How can we get the most out of our close relationships? Research in the area of personal relationships continues to grow, but most prior work has emphasized how to overcome negative aspects. This volume demonstrates that a good relationship is more than simply the absence of a bad relationship, and that establishing and maintaining optimal relationships entails enacting a set of processes that are distinct from merely avoiding negative or harmful behaviors. Drawing on recent relationship science to explore issues such as intimacy, attachment, passion, sacrifice, and compassionate goals, the essays in this volume emphasize the positive features that allow relationships to flourish. In doing so, they integrate several theoretical perspectives, concepts, and mechanisms that produce optimal relationships. The volume also includes a section on intensive and abbreviated interventions that have been empirically validated to be effective in promoting the positive features of close relationships.

By unpacking 'on-again, off-again' relationships, this book addresses the whys, hows, and outcomes of reconciling with ex-partners.

A ground breaking study of the ways that intimate relationships are similar around the world, and the ways they are different.

Close relationships are a vital part of people's daily lives; thus family members, friends, and romantic partners play an integral role in people's health and well-being. Understanding the ways in which close relationships both shape and reflect people's health and wellness is an important area of inquiry. Showcasing studies from various disciplines that are on the cutting-edge of research exploring the interdependence between health and relationships, this collection highlights several relationship processes that are instrumental in the maintenance of health and the management of illness, including interpersonal influence, information management, uncertainty, social support, and communication. Although the existing health literature is rich with knowledge about individual and ecological factors that are influential in promoting certain health behaviors, the relationship scholars featured in this volume have much to contribute in terms of documenting the interpersonal dynamics that are involved in experiences of health and illness.

Human sexuality touches us all, pun intended. We all either enjoy it, struggle with it, or may have been victims of it. Sexuality is not just about sex, but about human sexual function, the physiology of sex, the hormones involved and how they affect us, and the cultural norms related to it. Sexual function and dysfunction are closely tied to one's self-esteem, self-respect, and to relationships with intimate partners. Human Sexuality: Function, Dysfunction, Paraphilias, and Relationships, explores the interplay of intimacy and sexuality; how it can enhance relationships, and how it can negatively affect them, or be affected by them. When individuals or partners encounter sexual problems or dysfunctions it can have a long-lasting affect both biologically and psychologically. Dr. Rokach explores the causes and the reasons that these dysfunctions are maintained, and successful treatment methods. Chapters on sexual offenses and paraphilias and what treatment options are available to sexual offenders are also included. This book is the first book to place sexuality where it belongs, within the context of relationships demonstrating how sexuality relates to intimacy by both enhancing and negatively affecting it. - Explains psychological, biological and sociological theories of sexuality - Addresses sexual dysfunctions according to various models of sex therapy - Discusses the biological, developmental and sociological theories of sexual orientation - Explores the specific hormones in male and female sexual behavior

Provides an interdisciplinary perspective on behaviors and strategies used to maintain intimate relationships.

This book answers one of the most critical questions of our time, does the vast connectivity afforded by mobile and social media lead to more personal connection with one another? It offers an evidence-based account of the role of technology in close relationships that confronts such pressing questions as where face-to-face communication belongs in this digital age, whether social media is harmful to our well-being, and how online communication spills-over into our offline communication and relationships. Each chapter explores the positive and negative influences of media on relationships, coalescing into a balanced assessment of how technological advancement has altered our connections with each other. By zeroing in on communication with the most important people in our lives and tracing the changes in computer-mediated communication over time, Relating Through Technology focuses the conversation about media on its use in our everyday lives and relationships.