ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book is unique in presenting dyadic coping research conducted on all five continents. However, in the 1990s researchers began to focus increasingly on stress and coping in the context of couple relationships, examining in particular the ways in which partners' stress affected one another, the effects of stress and individual coping strategies on intimate relationships, and partners' strategies to assist each other cope with stress. This new focus resulted in the emergence of a new research and clinical field known as dyadic stress and coping and the development of conceptual models such as Coyne and Smith's relationship focused coping model, DeLongis and O'Brien's empathic coping model, Revenson's congruence coping model, and Bodenmann's systemic-transactional model. The book concludes with two chapters, the first written by Karen Kayser and Tracey Revenson, two pioneers in the field of dyadic stress and coping.
