Couple Relationships in a Global Context: Understanding Love and Intimacy Across Cultures

This book examines the significance of the couple relationship in the 21st century, exploring in depth how couple relationships are changing in different parts of the world. It highlights global trends and cultural variations that are shaping couple relationships. The book discusses diverse relationships, such as intercultural couples, same sex couples, long distance couples, polygynous marriages, and later life couples. In addition, chapters offer suggestions for ways to best support couples through policy, clinical practices, and community support. The book also investigates aspects of a relationship that help predict fidelity and stability. Topics featured in this book include: Couple relationships when one partner has an acquired physical disability. Impact of smartphones on relationships. Online dating and its implications for couple relationships. Assessment and intervention in situations of infidelity and non-monogamy. Parenting interventions for the transition from partnership to parenthood. Online couple psychotherapy to support emotional links between long distance partners. Couple Relationships in a Global Context is an essential resource for researchers, professors, and graduate students as well as clinicians and practitioners in family therapy, clinical psychology, general practice/family medicine, social work, and related psychology and medical disciplines.

Part 1: The significance of the couple relationship -- Chapter 1. Understanding couple relationships in a global context: Love and intimacy across cultures -- Chapter 2. The significance of the couple relationship in the 21st century -- Part 2: How couple relationships are changing in different parts of the world -- Chapter 3. The existential and relational meaning of love and intimacy for couples in Scandinavia -- Chapter 4. The evolution of the couple in France over the past 30 years -- Chapter 5. Changing couple relationships in India -- Chapter 6. Couple relationships in the Arab region: Changes and renegotiations -- Chapter 7. Couple relationships in China -- Chapter 8. Couple relationships in Mediterranean Malta -- Part 3: Couples in Diversity -- Chapter 9. Home is where the heart is: Aporias of love and belonging in intercultural couples -- Chapter 10. Stigma, social change and the well-being of same-sex couples -- Chapter 11. Falling in love in later life -- Chapter 12. Polygynous marriages: An Arab-Islamic perspective -- Chapter 13. The couple relationship when one of the partners has an acquired physical disability -- Part 4: Global trends in couple relationships -- Chapter 14. Framing couples in the media: Coupledom, wellbeing and comedy -- Chapter 15. Keeping couples together when apart, and driving them apart when together: Exploring the impact of smartphones on relationships in the UK -- Chapter 16. Online dating: Modern options of searching for a partner and its implications for psychotherapy -- Chapter 17. Fidelity, infidelity and non-monogamy -- Chapter 18. Understanding long-term couple relationships -- Chapter 19. Why and how couples leave relationships: A 21st century landscape -- Chapter 20. Between the couple and living alone -- Part 5: Supporting couple relationships -- Chapter 21. Systemic therapy and narratives of attachment -- Chapter 22. Supporting parents as partners: The couple context of parenting, a personal and academic -- Chapter 23. Supporting links between Living Apart Together couples through Online Couple Therapy -- Chapter 24. No couple is an island. Communities of support in couple relationships -- Chapter 25. Policy perspectives on couple relationships. .