Marital Communication provides insight into healthy relationships for those who want to better understand key communication processes between long-term, committed, romantic partners. Writing with students, teachers, researchers, practitioners, and couples in mind, this book uses marriage as a proving ground to understand the processes necessary to build and maintain positive romantic relationships. Marital Communication develops the idea that marriage is a distinctive communication context (long-term, romantic, and committed) that uniquely influences various relationship processes. It focuses on three essential elements needed for healthy marital functioning: positive everyday communication, intimacy and love, and productive conflict management. The book finishes by describing how these essential elements change across the life-span, by examining marriage's dark side, and by focusing on the use of forgiveness to ensure a healthy longevity. Soundly documented with current research and written in a manner accessible to student and researcher alike, Marital Communication is an ideal supplement for current courses focusing on family communication, interpersonal and relational communication, and conflict. It is also an excellent, resource for the relationship professional.