Leading researchers present research and theory that focus on how marital dysfunction develops among newly wed couples.

List of contributors; Foreword Robert L. Weiss; Introduction: the developmental course of marital dysfunction Thomas N. Bradbury; Part I. Conceptual and Empirical Contributions: 1. Communication in early marriage: responses to conflict, nonverbal accuracy and conversational patterns Patricia Noller and Judith A. Feeney; 2. Marital aggression, quality and stability in the first year of marriage: findings from the Buffalo newlywed study Kenneth E. Leonard and Linda J. Roberts; 3. Accommodation processes during the early years of marriage Caryl E. Rusbult, Victor L. Bissonnette, Ximena B. Arriaga and Chante L. Cox; 4. The psychological infrastructure of courtship and marriage: the role of personality and compatibility in romantic relationships Ted L. Huston and Renate M. Houts; 5. Happiness in stable marriages: the early years Joseph Veroff, Elizabeth Douvan, Terri L. Orbuch and Linda K. Acitelli; 6. Developmental changes in marital satisfaction: a 6-year prospective longitudinal study of newlywed couples Lawrence A. Kurdek; 7. The development of marriage: a 9-year perspective Kristin Lindahl, Mari Clements and Howard Markman; 8. Premarital predictors of relationship outcomes: a 15-year follow-up of the Boston couples study Charles T. Hill and Letitia Anne Peplau; 9. Optimizing longitudinal research for understanding and preventing marital dysfunction Thomas N. Bradbury, Catherine L. Cohan and Benjamin R. Karney; 10. Socialization into marital roles: testing a contextual, developmental model of marital functioning Irv Tallman, Peter J. Burke and Victor Gecas; 11. Physical aggression in marriage: a developmental analysis K. Daniel O'Leary and Michele Cascardi; Part II. Invited Commentaries: 12. On intervention and relationship events: a marital therapist looks at longitudinal research on marriage Andrew Christensen; 13. A developmentalist's perspective on marital change Ross D. Parke; 14. Couples, gender and time: comments on method David A. Kenny; 15. On the etiology of marital decay and its consequences: comments from a clinical psychologist John M. Gottman; 16. Problems and prospects in longitudinal research on marriage: a sociologist's perspective Norval D. Glenn; 17. A social psychological view of marital dysfunction and stability Ellen Berscheid; Author index; Subject index.