ABSTRACT
A s researchers who have spent many years studying couple relationships early in the family-making period of life, it was with some trepidation that we accepted the invitation to contribute to this volume. First, we were not certain that there is a single, coherent answer to the question, “What do mothers want?” It seems to us that different mothers want different things. Second, we were convinced that the question of what mothers want and need cannot be answered without consideration of what their partners want and need. A question about mothers' lives inevitably raises issues about the quality of the relationships they have established with their children's fathers, regardless of whether they are living together, married, or divorced.
