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Abstract
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects individuals’ daily lives and long-term outcomes across many domains (e.g., physical and mental health, occupation, social functioning). Among couples wherein one or both partners lives with ADHD (“ADHD couples”), the effects of individual ADHD can affect both partners. This dissertation focused on how ADHD can affect two key life domains: finances and couple relationships. Despite known associations between couples’ relationships and their finances, no research to date has explored associations between ADHD, couple relationships, and couple finances. Guided by Couples and Finances Theory (CFT, Archuleta, 2013; Archuleta & Burr, 2015) and Bandura’s (1977) theory of self-efficacy, the two studies contained in this dissertation demonstrate that among different-sex married couples, individuals’ domain-specific forms of self-efficacy were mediating links between their ADHD symptoms and their well-being in that domain (i.e., relational or financial). Further, both men’s and women’s ADHD symptoms were associated with their spouses’ financial well-being through their own financial self-efficacy, and men’s ADHD symptoms were associated with their wives’ couple satisfaction through men’s own relational self-efficacy. Because self-efficacy can be increased by intervention, the results of this dissertation provide researchers and practitioners (e.g., couple therapists, financial planners/counselors) with potential opportunities to better understand and support the relational and financial well-being of ADHD couples.