Marriage breakdowns have long been a problem. The rate of divorces has increased dramatically, yet some couples have happy marriages that have lasted "until death do them part." Many people could question: "What is the special formula that kept them together?" or "Is there really a happy marriage?" and if so many marriages fail miserably, "why do others succeed?" .
These questions came to Judith Wallerstein, author of the book The Good Marriage. Based on a study on fifty couples who declared their marriages as happy ones, The Good Marriage offers different views of the most complex of human relationships and how these marriages succeeded. Wallerstein and coauthor Sandra Blakeslee describe the four basic types of marriage: romantic, rescue, companionate and traditional. .
The first type is the romantic marriage, which has at its foundation a lasting, passionately sexual relationship. A couple in a romantic marriage often shares the sense that they were destined to be together. "Exciting, sensual memories of their first meeting and courtship retain a glow over the years and are a continuing part of the bond between them" (Wallerstein, 1995, p.22). Fifteen percent of the happily married couples in the study fell into the romantic marriage category. Every girl has dreamed, at least once in her lifetime, for that romantic encounter in her life. Just like the sleeping beauty, she dreams about being awakened by a beautiful prince that would be in love with her for the rest of her existence. Many people doubt about the existence of these marriages. This type of marriage, the romantic marriage, offers the evidence that men and women can love each other passionately throughout their lifetimes. As said by Wallerstein, men and women in romantic marriages had lonely, isolated childhoods or had sustained losses as children which brought them to adulthood with intense, long-postponed needs for love and closeness.