ABSTRACT
Satisfying close relationships are important to individuals’ mental and physical health. One of the most valued types of relationships is built with an intimate, romantic partner. There has been a great deal of investigation into how individuals choose such partners, but there is still much to be understood about how romantic partnerships are maintained over the long term. In a society where one out of two marriages will likely end in divorce, a theory of relationships that delineates the factors leading to long-lasting, satisfying partnerships could be beneficial to many people searching for such relationships.
