"The fact that the majority of marriages in the United States end in divorce is widely known. In 1997, over 1.16 million divorces were granted in the United States – a rate of 4.3 per 1000 (National Center for Health Statistics, 1998). From the 1960s to the 1980s, the divorce rate increased by well over 200%. Although this increase leveled off in the 1990s, the failure of marriages in U.S. society continues to be a pervasive social problem (e.g. Hoffman & Duncan, 1988). This phenomenon has sparked what is sure to be a lengthy quest to discover the causes of divorce and the factors that contribute to its prevalence (e.g., Gottman, 1994)."