This book details years of research involving questionnaires and observations of married couples in pursuit of the determinants of both marital happiness and divorce. It will be of interest to family and clinical psychologists and methodologists.
Gottman has produced a delightfully well researched, sensitive study of marital processes related to divorce....Anyone who is interested in marital processes and their dynamics will like this work.
-CHOICE
Bringing together empirical data and insightful theory development from a 20-year research program, this volume will quickly become an essential classic for all professionals interested in marriage, and required reading for graduate students....the author has constructed a rich, in-depth volume that thoroughly explains his creative work....Every chapter is ripe with insight, solidly based empirical data, sound theory development, and suggestions for application....this volume is a major contribution to the understanding of marriage and marital dissolution processes.
-Journal of Marriage and the Family
There is a wealth of valuable detail in this book....Gottman has provided an abundance of ideas that may stimulate thought by both researchers and therapists....Marital therapists, guided by the findings, can be more alert to the trajectories their client couples are following and possibly teach some of their clients more effective communication skills that may deflect them from the path of dissolution...
-The American Journal of Family Therapy
Contents: Introduction. What Makes Some Marriages Magical and Some Miserable? Raising the Questions. Terman's Question: What Makes for Marital Happiness? The View From Observational Methods. Longitudinal Change in Marital Happiness: Observing Physiology as Well as Marital Interaction. Marital Processes That Predict Dissolution. In What Sense Are Regulated Couples Regulated? Is Conflict Avoidance Dysfunctional? Conflict Avoidance and the Behavior of the Listener: Toward a Typology of Marriage. There Are Two Types of Conflict Engagers. A Balance Theory of Marriage. There Are Two Types of Nonregulated Couples. Male Withdrawal From Marital Conflict. Replication and Extension. Physiology During Marital Interaction. Toward a Comprehensive Theory of Marital Stability. Eight-Year Longitudinal Follow-Up Study. Recommendations for a Stable Marriage. Epilogue. Appendix: The Observational Coding Systems.
