What Predicts Divorce?

John Mordecai Gottman is an American psychological researcher and clinician who did extensive work over four decades on divorce prediction and marital stability. He is known for his work on marital stability and relationship analysis through scientific direct observations, many of which were published in peer-reviewed literature. Gottman is a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Washington. Dr. John Gottman and Dr. Julie Schwartz Gottman co-founded and lead a relationship company and therapist training entity called The Gottman Institute.

"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

• Foreword Preface 1 Introduction 2 What Makes Some Marriages Magical and Some Miserable? Raising the Questions 3 Terman's Question: What Makes for Marital Happiness? The View From Observational Methods 4 Longitudinal Change in Marital Happiness: Observing Physiology as Well as Marital Interaction 5 Marital Processes That Predict Dissolution 6 In What Sense Are Regulated Couples Regulated? 7 Is Conflict Avoidance Dysfunctional? 8 Conflict Avoidance and the Behavior of the Listener: Toward a Typology of Marriage 9 There Are Two Types of Conflict Engagers 10 A Balance Theory of Marriage 11 There Are Two Types of Nonregulated Couples 12 Male Withdrawal From Marital Conflict 13 Replication and Extension 14 Physiology During Marital Interaction 15 Toward a Comprehensive Theory of Marital Stability 16 Eight-Year Longitudinal Follow-Up Study 17 Recommendations for a Stable Marriage 18 Epilogue. Appendix: The Observational Coding Systems.