My girlfriend is writing a relationship book she is hoping to get
published. It will primarily be marketed to female readers who are
interested in improving their relationships with their husbands or
boyfriends. I have read several chapters of my lady's nearly completed
book and think it has excellent prospects but I also think that it can
be improved before it will be ready to be submitted to an agent or
publisher. The one dissatisfaction I have with the first draft of her
book it that many of the suggestions she makes to her future female
readers about how they could improve their relationships do not sound
as authoritative as they could. For example, she makes the obviously
valid points that men can become alienated and lose interest if their
women rarely praise them, withhold affection, withold sex, nag them or
try to remold or restructure their personalities, but so far she has
not been able to provide any scientific or objective evidence in
support of her points. I am hoping that a Google researcher could
provide some survey data supporting the theory that men really are
alienated by the types of conduct outlined above or alternatively (and
better yet, additionally) provide links to some research or survey
resources that she could  access to get some  authoritative or
objective backup information that might bolster her theory that such
factors are important to the success of a relationsip.

University of Washington professor John Gottman is the leading U.S.
researcher into the science of why marriages & long-term relationships
suceed or fail.  His approach is quantative -- double-blind scoring of
video recordings of couples interacting.  Dr. Gottman has been
researching this subject for the past 20 years & has published his
methodology and research results in the leading academic journals. 
Predictive results -- whether a specific marriage will fail within 5
years -- is remarkably high (90% or better).

Gottman has also published summaries of his results in books for the
lay reader, for example:  WHY MARRIAGES SUCCEED OR FAIL: AND HOW YOU
CAN MAKE YOURS LAST (Paperback)
by John Gottman.