Socioeconomic status moderates associations among stressful events, mental health, and relationship satisfaction.

Although stressful events and poor mental health predict worse intimate relationships in all segments of society, they may be especially detrimental for poorer couples who lack the financial resources that facilitate successful coping. To examine this hypothesis, associations among stress, mental health, and relationship satisfaction were examined in the Florida Family Formation study, a stratified random sample of more than 2000 Florida residents that included oversamples of low-income participants. As predicted, stressful life events and mental health problems accounted for more variance in relationship satisfaction among poorer than among more affluent individuals. These results suggest that models of relationship satisfaction addressing low-income populations may need to emphasize contextual and individual variables more than models developed in more affluent populations.