The First Year of Marriage: What to Expect, What to Accept, and What You Can Change

This is a great guide for alerting those about to take the leap to the pitfalls to be confronted during the initial year of marriage. Even those who have been previously living together may be surprised at the substantial psychological changes that legalization of the relationship brings about. Forewarned is forearmed!

As a clergyman, the title of this book caught my eye. I am constantly looking for materials to give to engaged couples and/or newlyweds. The First Year of Marriage certainly fits the bill.

However, as I was reading this I realized that most of the principles discussed in the book regarding relationships could be applied to any couple. My marriage is going on 30 years, yet I still experienced several "Aha" moments.

Ms. Arond and Dr. Pauker exhibit tremendous insight, both through their research as well as, I imagine, a result of their own marriage. They employ sound statistical methods, but even more importantly for the reader, the examples that they use help the average reader identify with the subjects and identify their own potential strengths and weaknesses. Quite often we can see in others what we don't wish to look at in ourselves or in our own behavior. This volume helps us identify personally with these couples and to recognize that there is a little bit of each of these couples in each of us.

I highly recommend this volume to anyone who wishes to learn more about the dynamics of marriage. The authors successfully identify some of the common pitfalls as well as some very thoughtful solutions to marital problems. They touch on issues of economics, independence vs. interdependence, sex, intimacy, family and friends (among other things). The target audience is the newlywed couple, but the potential audience is far broader.

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