The Oxford Handbook of Relationship Science and Couple Interventions

Marriage and other long-term committed relationships are an integral part of our lives and confer many benefits. People in satisfying marriages report greater life happiness, live longer, and are less vulnerable to mental and physical illness. Unfortunately, many couples experience significant relationship distress and about half of marriages end in divorce. Among those who stay married, a notable number of couples remain in unstable, severely distressed marriages for years or even decades. Given the serious physical and psychological consequences of relationship distress and divorce for spouses and their children, it is clear that relationship science-the basic and applied study of relationship development, maintenance, and dysfunction-is of critical importance.

The Oxford Handbook of Relationship Science and Couple Interventions showcases cutting-edge research in relationship science, including couple functioning, relationship education, and couple therapy. The book presents the most current definitions of and classifications for relationship dysfunction and discusses the latest research on the biological, psychological, and interpersonal causes and correlates of couple dysfunction and subsequent treatment implications. The latest findings regarding empirically supported prevention and treatment interventions for couple dysfunction are highlighted, as well as diversity and cultural issues in the context of working with couples. This Handbook will appeal to researchers who seek to understand the development of relationship distress and design interventions to prevent and treat couple distress and clinicians who are diagnosing, assessing, and treating couple dysfunction.

Kieran T. Sullivan, PhD, is a Professor of Psychology at Santa Clara University. She has published widely in the area of intimate relationships, including the predictors of relationship distress and divorce, prevention for relationship distress, and support processes in intimate relationships. Her current research focuses on support, control, and health behavior in intimate relationships and the effects of online communication on dating relationships. Dr. Sullivan is a licensed clinical psychologist.

Erika Lawrence, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Psychology Department at the University of Arizona. Her research program has broadly focused on evidence-based interventions for perpetrators of intimate partner violence, the developmental course of intimate partner violence, and the developmental course of intimate relationship processes. She has over 100 publications and her work has been funded by NIMH, NICHD, the CDC and the DOJ. Over the last decade, Dr. Lawrence's research has been focused on developing and testing evidence-based treatments targeting intimate partner violence (IPV) and associated psychopathology for perpetrators, victims, and children. Dr. Lawrence also has extensive experience teaching and supervising undergraduate and graduate students and has maintained a couple therapy practice for two decades.

1. Introduction: The Oxford Handbook of Relationship Science and Interventions
Kieran T. Sullivan and Erika Lawrence

Part 1: Defining and Classifying Relationship Dysfunction

2. Relational Processes: Historical Background, Current Considerations, and Future Directions for DSM-V and ICD-11
Steven R.H. Beach, Heather M. Foran, Richard E. Heyman, Amy M. Smith Slep, Anthony R. Cordaro Jr., Marianne Z. Wamboldt, David Reiss, and Nadine J. Kaslow

3. Moving Toward Universal Definitions and Assessment of Relational Problems
Heather M. Foran, Richard E. Heyman, Amy M. Smith Slep, Steven R.H. Beach, Nadine J. Kaslow, Anthony R. Cordaro Jr., Marianne Z. Wamboldt, and David Reiss

Part 2: Biological Processes, Individual Pathology, and Interpersonal Processes in the Development of Couple Dysfunction

4. Molecular Genetics and Epigenetics in the Context of Family and Couple Problems
Steven R.H. Beach, Gene H. Brody, and Steven M. Kogan

5. Relationships and Chronic Medical Problems
Jessica Pieczynski, Sarah Thilges, Leland Bardsley, and Tamara Goldman Sher

6. Intimate Relationship Functioning and Psychopathology
Mark A. Whisman & Briana L. Robustelli

7. Sexual Dysfunction and Couple Dysfunction
Barry McCarthy and Lana M. Wald

8. Treatment of Partner Aggression in Intimate Relationships
Katie Lee Salis and K. Daniel O'Leary

9. Understanding and Treating Infidelity
Jennifer Willett Howell, Sarah E. Gilbert, and Kristina Coop Gordon

Part 3: Best Practices and Empirically Supported Treatments for Couple Distress

10. Best Practices in Assessment for Couple Therapy
Christina M. Balderrama-Durbin, Caitlin L. Fissette, and Douglas K. Snyder

11. Emerging Methodological and Statistical Techniques in Couple Research
David C. Atkins and Brian R. Baucom

12. Finding What Works: Systematically Evaluating the Research Evidence in Couple and Family Therapy
Thomas L. Sexton and Julie R. LaFollette

13. Empirically Supported Couple Therapies
Lisa A. Benson and Andrew Christensen

14. Empirically Based Couple Relationship Education
W. Kim Halford, Jemima Petch, and Karina Bate

15. Emerging Approaches to Empirically Based Couples Interventions
C. J. Eubanks Fleming, MA and James V. Córdova

Part 4: Diversity in Couple Therapy

16. Couple Therapy With Same-Sex and Gender-Variant (LGBT) Couples: Sociocultural Problems and Intrapsychic and Relational Consequences
Valory Mitchell

17. Cultural Considerations in Evidence-Based Couple Therapy
Mia Sevier, Leah Brew, and Jean C. Yi

18. Relationship Science and Interventions: Where We Are and Where We Are Going
Erika Lawrence

Index