For love or money: Prenuptial agreements and marital quality—a brief report

Abstract Objective This work tested the association between prenuptial agreements (“prenups”), marital quality, and four moderators. Background Almost no empirical studies have examined how prenups and marital quality relate despite professionals' differing opinions on the subject. Methods Data came from the State of Our Unions 2022 survey, a U.S. sample of 2,000 married individuals aged 18 to 55. The data were not dyadic. I used ordinary least squares regression to assess the relationship between prenups and marital satisfaction, perceived marital stability, and potential moderators. Results Prenup status was unrelated to marital satisfaction for those with the highest levels of satisfaction with their spouse's commitment or satisfaction with the marital communication. Those without the highest levels of these characteristics reported lower levels of marital satisfaction if they had prenups relative to those without prenups. Commitment and communication more complexly moderated the association between prenups and perceived marital stability, although participants with prenups reported less stability. Neither fairness nor gender moderated the associations. Implications Engaged couples who enter prenups may experience relationship costs. They may benefit from relationship counseling during the prenup process. Conclusion Prenups may be negatively associated with marital quality but are not for couples who have high commitment satisfaction or high communication satisfaction.