Midlife can be a time of great change for individuals and a "make or break" period for marriages. Couples navigate a relationship landscape defined by such lifecourse landmarks as "the empty nest," changing roles at home and at work, aging bodies, and the need to care for family elders. Some partnerships are resilient through this period, adopting practices that help them cope, bounce back, and even thrive in the face of adversity. Others sputter, wither, and burn out. What makes a midlife marriage resilient? Drawing from hundreds of interviews with couples, The Middle Years of Marriage answers this question.

Vince Waldron (Ph.D., Ohio State) is Professor of Communication at Arizona State University. He is an author or editor of six books on personal and work relationships, including the award-winning Communicating Forgiveness. His work is currently funded by the U.S. National Institute on Aging.

Acknowledgments - Alex Zautra: Preface - Section I Foundations - What Do We Know About Midlife Marriage? - Creating the Marriages at Midlife Archive (MaMA) - Section II What the Couples Say - Amy Przytula Vynalek/Catalina Cayetano/Dayna N. Kloeber/Amanda Tuholsky: Midlife Changes and Challenges - Protecting - Coping - Growing - Section III Theory, Methods, and Measures - Gary A. Beck: Theorizing Relational Resilience at Midlife - Methods and Measures - Index.