PSYCH 212

Alexandria Gurule
Article 12
233543
Burgoyne, C. B., Reibstein, J., Edmunds, A. M., & Routh, D. A. (2010). Marital commitment,
money and marriage preparation: What changes after the wedding?. Journal Of Community &
Applied Social Psychology, 20(5), 390-403. doi:10.1002/casp.1045
This article talks about what changes after a couple gets married. Combing two people to
become one family is rough and a challenge. This article also talks about commitment and that
marriage is not just being with the person you love, it is committing to them every day and
committing to not only to love them, but their financial struggles, their past, their family and
everything that comes with living with someone. Sometimes, financial issues can bring strain on
a marriage. Especially if one person manages all of the money and allows no control to the other
spouse. This is more popular when a man is the main provider and leaves the wife with no way
to support herself. This can be a big issue if they separate and the wife has no idea of how to
support themselves and their children. When a couple is unmarried they tend to have equal
amounts of financial responsibility, but this tends to change when a couple gets married. It also
says that things usually change after the first year of marriage. This is true not only have to do
with financial issues, but also with freedoms and choices that they make in their lives. Obviously
choices change when you are married and you are limited to some things. This is not to say that
marriage is constrictive to everything and that we are not able to do anything once we are
married. But we are held to a higher responsibility when we are devoted to one person.
I thought that this article was a little basic when it came to new ideas that were given for
changes in marriage. Although they are good statements that were based on faces, they also
admitted that they could have done their research better with more participants and with more
research funds. I also liked how they said that although things tend to change after the first year,
the commitment to the other person grows in most marriages. I thought that this was pretty
accurate because you’re spending more time with your spouse and you’re getting to know them
in a different way than when you weren’t living with them. Financial questions and problems
will always be a thing that every couple goes through. I think that couples should be able to
support themselves individually before they are able to support another person with them. This is
so important because if something happens and the couple is no longer married, they need to be
able to support themselves on their own.