The field of family studies has recently seen the development of a more specialized focus on the character of particular relationships. The nature of these relationships may take many forms but typically involves individuals who view themselves as a unit with a long-term commitment to continue their relationship. Traditionally, at least in western societies, families are defined in terms of two parents living together with responsibility for rearing their children. However, these so-called nuclear families are becoming a rarer phenomenon. Single-parent families, childless couples, lesbian or...

What role do relationships play in the individual's health and the functioning of families and communities? Recent research indicates that relationships are important not only to individuals' well-being, but also to families, whilst their importance in the functioning of communities is only beginning to be recognized and investigated in a systematic way.
Each chapter is focused on a cutting-edge application of the personal relationships perspective relevant to clinical and community psychology. The book addresses such issues as the effect of close personal relationships on health...

The Social Psychology of Personal Relationships provides a concise and highly readable introduction to the major social psychological perspectives on the study of personal relationships. The contributors, all internationally recognized scholars in their respective fields, address the study of personal relationships from the following key social psychological perspectives:


* attachment theory
* evolutionary psychology
* interdependence relations
* interracial relationships
* self-expansion theory
* self-presentation theory
This...