Couple Resilience: Emerging Perspectives

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This distinctive volume expands our understanding of couple resilience by identifying and exploring specific mechanisms unique to intimate relationships that facilitate positive adaptation to life challenges. Committed partnerships represent a unique form of relational alliance that offers an opportunity and challenge to go beyond the self - to develop as individuals and as a relationship. The contributors to this volume represent a range of perspectives that integrate conventional relationship science and innovative empirical and theoretical work on the importance of meaning-making, narrative construction, intersubjectivity, forgiveness, and positive emotion in couple life. The volume also offers a unique anchor point - ‘We-ness’ as it relates to the intersection between shared, personal identity and well-being. Under-examined relational contexts such as resilience among LGBT partners and sexual resilience during illness adds further refinement of thought and application.


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Karen Skerrett · Karen Fergus Editors Couple Resilience Emerging Perspectives Couple Resilience Karen Skerrett • Karen Fergus Editors Couple Resilience Emerging Perspectives Editors Karen Skerrett The Family Institute/Center for Applied Psychological Study at Northwestern University Evanston, IL, USA Karen Fergus Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON, Canada ISBN 978-94-017-9908-9 ISBN 978-94-017-9909-6 DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-9909-6 (eBook) Library of Congress Control Number: 2015945027 Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg New York London © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Printed on acid-free paper Springer Science+Business Media B.V. Dordrecht is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www. springer.com) To my family, for their love and inspiration – KS To Ken, for your love and support, day in and day out – KF And to the resilience of couples everywhere Preface The capacity to deal effectively, even creatively, with the challenges life brings our way is a topic of endless interest to scholars, clinicians, and researchers from a wide variety of disciplines. Over time, the focus has expanded from how one adapts in the face of adversity to how one might thrive. This book broadens the focus even further by applying the concept of resilience to relationship dyads and, specifically, to the ways in which resiliency expresses itself within an intimate relationship. Also of interest are the processes underlying this ability for relationships to endure adaptively and for partners to grow together in the face of life’s ups and downs. A primary motivation for embarking on this project was a keen interest in the ways in which c