Tag: common problems

Every month Eric dreads opening the credit card bills. No matter how bad he thinks it will be, it’s worse, even though he repeatedly—sometimes gently, sometimes angrily—has begged his wife, Jessica, to reign in her spending. Nothing he says gets through to her. For her part, Jessica says she is only spending what she feels she has to in order to dress herself and their children as well as the neighbors do and to make their home as nice as their friends’ homes.

Every couple has to work out agreements in what we call the nine different areas in a marriage. These universal issues have been identified by family researchers.