Scholars have established cross-sectional connections between how married couples navigate their finances and their sexual relationship. For example, financial management behaviors have been shown to predict sexual satisfaction among newlywed couples. However, we know very little about the direction of the association between financial management behaviors and sexual satisfaction. Understanding which might predict the other, or if there might be a bidirectional association between the two, could provide direction on where to intervene to help newlywed couples with financial and/or sexual obstacles in their marriage. With three waves of dyadic data (N = 1,208 U.S. newlywed couples), I used structural equation modeling to examine the cross-lagged, indirect associations between husbands' and wives' financial management behaviors and their own sexual satisfaction through their own marital satisfaction. Overall, I found that financial management behaviors indirectly predicted changes in sexual satisfaction through changes in marital satisfaction for both husbands and wives. I also found limited evidence that husbands' sexual satisfaction indirectly predicted changes in their own financial management behaviors through changes in their own marital satisfaction. Additionally, these indirect associations differed by gender. Implications of these findings for those who help newlywed couples with their sexual relationship are discussed.

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