When it comes to love and money, opposites really do attract, says a University of Michigan researcher.

New research by Scott Rick of University of Michigan's Ross School of Business suggests that people who are tight with their money often end up marrying those who spend more freely—much to the detriment of their marriage, it was reported in a news release.

"Generally speaking, birds of a feather flock together," said Rick, assistant professor of marketing at the Ross School. "We tend to be attracted to mates who share similar demographic characteristics, similar attitudes, similar values, even similar names. But our surveys of married adults suggest opposites attract when it comes to spending.

"Tightwads, who generally spend less than they would ideally like to spend, and spendthrifts, who generally spend more than they would ideally like to spend, tend to marry each other."

Rick and colleagues Deborah Small of the University of Pennsylvania and Eli Finkel of Northwestern University surveyed more than 1,000 married and unmarried adults in three separate studies to find out whether feelings toward spending money predict who people will marry and whether those differences bear an impact on marital happiness.

The three researchers found both tightwads and spendthrifts are unhappy with their emotional reactions toward spending money—and the more dissatisfied they are, the more likely they are to be attracted to people with opposing views toward spending.

"However, this complementary attraction ultimately appears to hurt marriages, as it is associated with greater conflicts over money and diminished marital well-being," Rick said. "The more spouses differ on the tightwad-spendthrift dimension, the more likely they are to argue over money and the less satisfied they are with the marriage.”