I am very pleased to have been asked to do abrief foreword to this second CRISP volume, The Social Context o[ Coping. I know most of the participants and their work, and respect them as first-rate and influen tial research scholars whose research is at the cusp of current concerns in the field of stress and coping. Psychological stress is central to human adaptation. It is difficult to visualize the study of adaptation, health, illness, personal soundness, and psychopathology without recognizing their dependence on how weil people cope with the stresses of living. Since the editor, John Eckenrode, has portrayed the themes of each of the chapters in his introduction, I can limit myself to a few general comments about stress and coping. Stress research began, as unexplored fields often do, with very sim ple-should I say simplistic?-ideas about how to define the concept. Early approaches were unidimensional and input-output in outlook, modeled implicitly on Hooke's late-17th-century engineering analysis in which external load was an environmental stressor, stress was the area over wh ich the load acted, and strain was the deformation of the struc tu re such as a bridge or building.

Providing an understanding of the impact of social circumstance on women giving birth, their babies and families in the 21st century, this title explains to midwives and other health professionals how social issues, such as domestic violence, race and poverty, can affect the birth progress.

The aim of this volume is to provide an overview of research from different psychological domains with regards to intergroup helping, arguing for intergroup helping as a research area in and of itself. Historically, research on intergroup relations has largely overlooked helping between groups—which, combined with the fact that most of the research on altruism and helping has focused on individuals, meant that intergroup helping was primarily looked at as deriving from negative intergroup interactions, such as ingroup bias or discrimination. However, over the last decade, a small but growing group of researchers started to investigate intergroup helping as a positive social act occurring between and amongst groups. With contributions from these expert researchers, this volume makes the case that intergroup helping should be studied as a phenomenon in and of itself, not as a mere expression of negative intergroup behaviour. To advance this argument, the first section covers traditional research approaches in which the willingness to help other groups is construed as a form of discrimination. Then, the second section looks at the reasons why people may be motivated to help other groups. Finally, the last section explores intergroup helping in real world settings, looking at natural disaster responses and the role of morality, among other topics, demonstrating that intergroup relations can be truly positive. Thus, Intergroup Helping: The Positive Side of Intergroup Behavior informs researchers in positive and group relations psychology about the current state of affairs of research on intergroup cooperation and helping, and sets out an agenda for further exploration. Tapping into a current trend towards positive psychology, it moves away from the traditional view within intergroup relations research of the group as a ‘source of trouble’, and instead focuses on truly positive intergroup relations, with the ultimate goal of promoting real positive behaviour that breaches the intergroup divide.

This comprehensive text focuses on the social contexts of ageing, looking at the diversity of ageing and older people, and at different factors that are important to experiences of old age and ageing. It includes key chapters on: theoretical and methodological bases for the study of ageing demographic context of the 'ageing' population health and illness family and social networks formal and informal care and other services for older people. Providing an invaluable introduction to the major issues involved in the study of ageing, this book is essential reading for students of sociology, gerontology, social policy, health and social care, and professionals working with older people.