Research has shown that marital status affects wages and work behaviors that influence wages, but little attention has been paid to the impact of marital status on attitudes toward pay and finances. This study develops theoretical propositions concerning the effect of marital status on pay valence and financial satisfaction and tests them with data from the General Social Survey. Consistent with these propositions, married men and women view pay as more important and feel less satisfaction with their financial circumstances than do their never-married counterparts. Divorced individuals reveal pay valence levels between those of single and married individuals but are even less financially satisfied than married individuals. An unexpected finding is that the effects of marital status on pay valence and financial satisfaction do not differ by gender. The effects of marital status on both attitudes are attributable in part to the association between marital status and parenthood.
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