This volume brings together contributions on the study of sexual affairs in committed personal relationships. The editors enlisted colleagues with varied theoretical and methodological perspectives from Britain, the United States, and other countries. Together, their contributions provide a broad, cross-national perspective on affairs.

Grounded in theoretical discussion, the chapters in this book introduce data collected by a broad range of methods, including attitude surveys, large statistical cohort studies, case studies, depth interviews, and group discussions. A number of contributors...

Relating Difficulty offers insight into the nature of difficulty in relationships across a broad range of human experience. Whether dealing with in-laws or ex-spouses, long-distance relationships or power and status in the workplace, difficulty is an all too common feature of daily life. Relating Difficulty brings the academic understanding of relational processes to the everyday problems people face at home and at work.

These essays represent a groundbreaking collection of the multidisciplinary conceptual and empirical work that currently exists on the topic. Along with...

This enlightening volume provides first-hand perspectives and ethnographic research on communication at the end of life, a topic that has gone largely understudied in communication literature. Author Elissa Foster's own experiences as a volunteer hospice caregiver form the basis of the book. Communicating at the End of Life recounts the stories of Foster and six other volunteers and their communicative experiences with dying patients, using communication theory and research findings to identify insights on the relationships they form throughout the process. What unfolds is a scholarly...

This enlightening volume provides first-hand perspectives and ethnographic research on communication at the end of life, a topic that has gone largely understudied in communication literature. Author Elissa Foster’ s own experiences as a volunteer hospice caregiver form the basis of the book. "Communicating at the End of Life" recounts the stories of Foster and six other volunteers and their communicative experiences with dying patients, using communication theory and research findings to identify insights on the relationships they form throughout the process. What unfolds is a...

The effort to understand personal relationships has traditionally focused on the individual characteristics of participants. "Personal Relationships and Personal Networks "takes this analysis a step further, focusing on research linking participants' feelings and actions within a given personal relationship to the larger social context surrounding it. Author Malcolm R. Parks expands on the idea that the initiation, development, maintenance, and dissolution of relationships are inextricably connected to each participant's social network-a perspective that allows for a better appreciation of...

This is the second volume in the "Reflective Teaching and the Social Conditions of Schooling" series. Reflection in the area of culture and teaching necessarily takes teachers on both an introspective journey and an examination of the social conditions of schooling. There is a need to know not only what they believe but also what schools do. It has long been charged that our educational system privileges some and disenfranchises others. Schools are not the equitable institutions that one would hope them to be--a feature of schooling and one that deserves a great deal more attention. This work...

This text describes the communicative and relational features of adolescent drug use. It is written for people who care about adolescents and are concerned about their drug use problems: researchers, practitioners, parents and teachers, among others. It informs the reader about how drugs, adolescents and the social world (a world of peer pressure, emerging and fragile self-identity, need for approval, desire to be accepted, cliques, identification with peers and peer norms) affect an adolescent's relationship with his/her parents.

This text describes the communicative and relational features of adolescent drug use. It is written for people who care about adolescents and are concerned about their drug use problems: researchers, practitioners, parents and teachers, among others. It informs the reader about how drugs, adolescents and the social world (a world of peer pressure, emerging and fragile self-identity, need for approval, desire to be accepted, cliques, identification with peers and peer norms) affect an adolescent's relationship with his/her parents.

In one of the great euphemisms of our time, an embattled President Clinton admitted to an "inappropriate relationship" with his White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. But what exactly is an "inappropriate relationship?" For that matter, what is an "appropriate relationship?" And how can an understanding of the rules of "appropriateness" help us understand personal relationships in our modern world?
Contributors to this book discuss the personal boundaries and taboos of modern relationships. Together they examine the power struggles that can occur when individuals are involved in...

Relating Difficulty offers insight into the nature of difficulty in relationships across a broad range of human experience. Whether dealing with in-laws or ex-spouses, long-distance relationships or power and status in the workplace, difficulty is an all too common feature of daily life. Relating Difficulty brings the academic understanding of relational processes to the everyday problems people face at home and at work.