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Fighting with your partner about money? Blame your parents.

“There’s a lot of internal feelings related to money because money can also reflect the power and the balance of the relationship,” says Lauren Papp, the director of the Couples Lab at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and author of several studies on marital conflict. “Money is something that we bring with us from our childhood. So, what does money mean to a person? If someone buys something, is that an act of love, is that an apology, is that just what you expect?”