Retrospective accounts of 42 married couples were used to construct a developmental model of courtship. A basic three-stage pattern was found to characterize the majority of relationships from initial acquaintance to marriage: Casual Dating, Serious Dating and Engagement. Changes in the relationships were measured through the use of a standardized questionnaire. Factor analysis of the data yielded two primary orthogonal factors: Love and Conflict-Negativity. Ambivalence and Maintenance Behavior were two additional clusters related to the major factors. Love and Conflict-Negativity reflect the reward and cost processes in relationship functioning. The four dimensions were found to significantly change across courtship and post-marital stages. The developmental model was used to explore differences in courtship style and relationship stability between two types of couples. Relationships which were characterized by a rapid development of intimacy in courtship were found to be somewhat less stable during engagement and marriage than those in which intimacy developed more gradually over time. (Author/BN)