Introduction to the Research Handbook on Couple and Family Relationships

Couple and family relationships have been the focus of considerable scientific inquiry, but work on couple and family relationships has evolved in parallel with little crosstalk. The aim of the Research Handbook on Couple and Family Relationships is to promote integration across couple and family scholarship. For each of 12 topics, the handbook includes two companion chapters: one chapter focused on couple relationships, and one chapter focused on family relationships. Each chapter provides valuable insights into factors that influence, and are influenced by, couple and family relationships, including: (1) individual characteristics (attachment, personality, depression, gender and gender roles); (2) relational processes (responsiveness, emotion expression and regulation, relationship conflict, aggression and maltreatment), and (3) external influences (stress, financial strain, discrimination and minority stress, social contexts such as neighborhoods). Collectively, the companion treatments of similar topics reveal key commonalities and differences within couple and family scholarship that inform and expand both fields.