All marriages go through ups and downs, even the strongest. And sometimes the low spots can make couples question whether they made a mistake in getting married. When you're having trouble, it's good to know there are many resources available to help you turn your marriage around.

Plenty of marriages have successfully made the change from very unhappy to very happy-as shown in the National Survey of Families and Households done by the UW Center for Demography.

The survey found that two out of three people who said they were unhappily married but who stayed in the marriage were eventually glad they did. Five years later, they described their marriages as happy.

Many spouses said their marriages got happier, not because they and their partner resolved problems, but because they stubbornly outlasted them. Over time, sources of conflict and distress eased.

The most dramatic turnarounds came in unhappy marriages. Among those who rated their marriages "very unhappy" but did not divorce, nearly 8 out of 10 reported happy marriages five years later.

The study also found that unhappily married adults who divorced were not any happier than those who stayed married-even after controlling for race, age, gender and income. This was true whether they remarried again or not.

"Some divorce is necessary, but results like these suggest the benefits of divorce have been oversold," says Linda J. Waite, author of "Does Divorce Make People Happy?" "Staying married is not just for the children's sake."

Experts estimate nearly 70 percent of divorces are preventable through training in skills such as communication and conflict resolution. And it takes only one person to make a difference. Your actions alone can create the positive turning point in your marriage.

In fact, spouses who turned their marriages around weren't likely to say counseling played a key role. Among those who did choose counseling, men preferred religious over secular counselors, partly because they believed these counselors would not encourage divorce. Women were likely to consider help from other sources more useful than traditional "value-neutral" counseling.

There are resources to help you overcome even the most serious issues, including infidelity, abuse, addictions, and pornography.

For a calendar of events in your county, visit our classes page and then click on a county near you. If our coverage area doesn't quite cover you yet, check out Smart Marriages, where you'll find resources for every conceivable topic.