The papers in this symposium span quite a wide range of issues. Seltzer (2004) and Le Bourdais and Lapierre-Adamcyk (2004) focus on heterosexual cohabitation, the former on the United States and Great Britain, and the latter on Canada. Spurred by the Administration’s Healthy Marriage Initiative in the United States, Huston and Melz (2004) examine the case for marriage promotion, arguing that policies to promote family well-being need to take account of myriad factors, and that an emphasis on relationship skills alone is misplaced. With a somewhat similar purpose, Bradbury and Karney (2004) explore the implications of research on marital quality for strategies designed to strengthen couple relationships. Oropesa and Landale (2004) investigate the likely consequences of the expansion of the Hispanic population in the United States for the future of marriage. Finally, Cherlin (2004) presents an argument that although marriage has become deinstitutionalized, it retains symbolic value.