ABSTRACT
A large number of specific research questions can be asked about the experiences that yield positive or negative change in marriage. Some are entirely descriptive (e.g., What is the prevalence rate of divorce among different ethnic groups in the United States?); others focus on the ability of clinicians to interrupt potentially maladaptive patterns in relationships. The latter are addressed in intervention, or treatment, research. The term intervention research is preferred here because the term intervention subsumes both treatment and prevention, whereas treatment carries its own implications. Indeed, the intervention study can be viewed as the endpoint in a chain of scientific activities that begins with simple descriptions of romantic relationships and eventually leads to rigorous experimental tests of theoretical hypotheses.
