Part I. Couple Resilience and We-ness -- Chapter 1. Resilience in Couples: A View of the Landscape; Karen Skerret -- Chapter 2. Theoretical and Methodological Underpinnings of Resilience in Couples: Locating the ''We''; Karen Fergus -- Part II. Resilient Processes and Applications to Specific Populations -- Chapter 3. Resilience in Lesbians and Gay Couples; Arlene Lev-Star -- Chapter 4. Sexual Resilience in Couples; Andrea M. Beck and John W. Robinson -- Chapter 5. Dyadic Adaptation to Chronic Illness: The Importance of Considering Context in Understanding Couples' Resilience; Kristi Gamarel and Tracey Revenson -- Chapter 6. Relationships and the Neurobiology of Resilience; Brent Atkinson -- Part III. Invesitigations into Facets of Couple Resilience -- Chapter 7. Mutuality and the Marital Engagement-Type of Union Scale (Me to Us): Empirical Support for a Clinical Instrument in Couple Therapy; Jefferson Singer, Nicole Alea, Beate Labunko and Jenna Baddeley -- Chapter 8. Identification with the Relationship as Essential to Marital Resilience: Theory, Applications and Evidence; David Reid and Saunia S. Ahmed -- Chapter 9. ''We-Ness'' in Relationship Defining Memories and Marital Satisfaction; Nicole Alea, Jefferson Singer and Beate Labunko -- Chapter 10. Forgiveness: A Route to Healing Emotional Injuries and Building Resiliency; Catalina Woldarsky-Meneses and Leslie Greenberg -- Part IV. Looking Back, Moving Forward -- Chapter 11. Resilient Couple Coping Revisited: Building Relationship Muscle; Karen Fergus and Karen Skerrett. .

This distinctive volume expands our understanding of couple resilience by identifying and exploring specific mechanisms unique to intimate relationships that facilitate positive adaptation to life challenges. Committed partnerships represent a unique form of relational alliance that offers an opportunity and challenge to go beyond the self - to develop as individuals and as a relationship. The contributors to this volume represent a range of perspectives that integrate conventional relationship science and innovative empirical and theoretical work on the importance of meaning-making, narrative construction, intersubjectivity, forgiveness, and positive emotion in couple life. The volume also offers a unique anchor point - ‘We-ness’ as it relates to the intersection between shared, and personal identity and well-being. Under-examined relational contexts such as resilience among LGBT partners and sexual resilience during illness adds further refinement of thought and application. .