本研究主要目的在了解華人婚姻韌性的內涵，一方面以西方韌性研究的經驗為借鏡，注意韌性研究中有關概念重疊、現象的多重脈絡與不穩定性等問題；另一方面則在華人婚姻研究的成果之下，進一步觀照華人文化特色對形成婚姻韌性可能產生的影響。著重概念的釐清、意義的建構與韌性歷程理論模型的提出。
研究分兩個步驟進行。第一個步驟是以 378 名具婚姻經驗的一般夫妻為對象，以簡單的問卷探詢他們婚姻的狀況及對婚姻韌性的看法。第二個步驟是以19 名符合「在逆境中仍有滿意婚姻關係」之條件的已婚夫妻為對象進行深入訪談。
研究顯示，婚姻韌性代表的是一種維持婚姻的努力，這些努力包括一些能力的培養（如：包容、體諒等），也包括自我的退讓與壓抑。它的形成是一個持續的歷程，除了會受到信念的影響之外，也要透過個人在逆境中的進退，以及婚姻互動中的拉鋸與調整的過程逐漸形成。其中，信念的影響包括個人要能從逆境中看到希望，對婚姻抱著堅不棄守的想法，以及華人世界觀中順天、知命、惜福的態度。而在韌性形成的歷程中，個人可能採取主動爭取資源的積極策略或忍耐寬容的迂迴策略，也會在婚姻中有著給與取的拉鋸及忍與不忍間的調整，這個歷程交互決定了韌性形成的軌跡與變化的方向。

The purpose of this study is to examine the concept of resilience in Chinese societies and to construct a theory, of Chinese marital resilience. There were 2 stages of data collecstion: First, 378 married people were asked to define marital resilience and their answers were categorized through content analysis, which indicated that marital resilience is regarded as making the effort (through self-repression, concession, expanding personal capacity, tolerance, and consideration) to maintain a satisfactory marriage despite hardships. In the second stage, 19 people were interviewed who believed themselves to have a satisfactory marriage after experiencing adversity. Analyses of the interview data revealed a process of development of marital resi1ience involving interaction of 3 major forces: the individual’s personal belief system about marriage, hardships, and life; the individual's active and passive coping strategies; and the constant give and take or ren (忍, a Chinese concept similar to tolerance) in the marriage system.