"In this marvelous book, Beverly Fehr presents a comprehensive and richly detailed examination of what scholars have learned about the formation, maintenance, and dissolution of friendships. . . . Overall, a model of careful scholarship, clear writing, and good sense. For anyone studying friendships, there is no better place to start. This is perhaps the best book of its kind." --Choice Friends are an integral part of our lives--they sometimes replace family relationships and often form the basis for romantic relationships. Friendship Processes, new in the Sage Series on Close Relationships, examines exactly how friends give meaning to our lives and why we rely so heavily on them. Broad in its coverage, the book is process oriented and research based with each phase of the friendship process documented by empirical research. The result is a conceptual framework that illuminates the fascinating components of how we make friends, how we become close, how we maintain friends, and how friendships deteriorate and dissolve. Author Beverley Fehr equips the reader with valuable knowledge about the formations and continuations of the intriguing personal relationship called friendship. Friendship Processes also illustrates well the fact that, as a field of study, close relationships is maturing rapidly. Promising to be the definitive study of the subject for many years to come, this book will be of particular interest to professionals, academics, and students of social psychology, sociology, communication, family studies, and social work as well as any interested reader who is anxious to deepen his or her understanding and appreciation of a very engaging topic.

A topic relevant to everyone - friendship - is explored in this volume, the first in the SAGE Series on Close Relationships. It presents a thoughtful statement about what we know, and have yet to learn, concerning adults' friendships.The authors discuss state-of-the-art research on the interplay between social structure, individual disposition and dynamic processes of friendship, and findings on both similarities and differences across adult lifecourse stages. They provide a theoretical framework, incorporating both sociological and psychological perspectives. Using this framework, they offer a new and integrative model of friendship to synthesize research, identify gaps in the literature, scrutinize methods used and produce a map for future research.

This broad-ranging volume examines how friends give meaning to our lives. Each phase of the friendship process is illustrated with empirical research. The result is a conceptual framework that illuminates the fascinating components involved in making friends, becoming close and keeping friends, and in friendships deteriorating and dissolving.

Edited by Mahzad Hojjat and Anne Moyer, The Psychology of Friendship provides a comprehensive overview of the research on these important relationships, which represent one of humanity's closest connections. This book provides a wealth of information on both the beneficial and detrimental aspects of this important bond in everyone's lives.

The phenomenon of friendship is universal. Friends, after all, are the family we choose. But what makes these bonds not just pleasant but essential, and how do they affect our bodies and our minds? In Friendship, science journalist Lydia Denworth takes us in search of the biological, psychological, and evolutionary foundations of this important bond. She finds that the human capacity for friendship is as old as humanity itself, when tribes of people on the African savanna grew large enough for individuals to seek meaningful connection with those outside their immediate families. Lydia meets scientists at the frontiers of brain and genetics research, and discovers that friendship is reflected in our brain waves, our genomes, and our cardiovascular and immune systems; its opposite, loneliness, can kill. With insight and warmth, Lydia weaves past and present, biology and neuroscience, to show how our bodies and minds are designed for friendship, and how this is changing in the age of social media. Blending compelling science, storytelling, and a grand evolutionary perspective, she delineates the essential role that cooperation and companionship play in creating human (and non-human) societies. Friendship illuminates the vital aspects of friendship, both visible and invisible, and offers a refreshingly optimistic vision of human nature. It is a clarion call for putting positive relationships at the centre of our lives.

Highly readable and comprehensive, this volume explores the significance of friendship for social, emotional, and cognitive development from early childhood through adolescence. The authors trace how friendships change as children age and what specific functions these relationships play in promoting adjustment and well-being. Compelling topics include the effects of individual differences on friendship quality, how friendship quality can be assessed, and ways in which certain friendships may promote negative outcomes. Examining what clinicians, educators, and parents can do to help children who struggle with making friends, the book reviews available interventions and identifies important directions for future work in the field.

′The provision of many amusing examples from Corsaro′s own research experience with children make his book a thoroughly enjoyable read as well as a valuable critical sociological analysis of childhood′ - Sociology The Sociology of Childhood is the Second Edition of a text that has been universally acclaimed as the best book on the subject available today. It is the only text that thoroughly covers children and childhood from a sociological perspective. The second edition retains the same quality coverage of social theories of childhood, the consideration of children and childhood in historical and cultural perspective, children′s peer cultures from preschool through preadolescence, and the social problems of children. The book has been updated to include new research, information, and discussions on the latest social indicators regarding children in the United States and around the world. Key Features New chapter on up-to-date methods of research for studying children. New chapters on theory, cultural change, and children′s peer cultures. New section on children′s rights including a description and discussion of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Updated chapter on the Future of Childhood addresses current policy debates and changing demographics related to children in today′s societies. Contains many examples of children′s actual play and behavior. Provides photographs and charts that capture the complexity and diversity of children′s lives. The Sociology of Childhood is highly recommended for use as the core text in courses on the sociology of children and childhood, as well as for parents, teachers, and other adults interested in the social lives and development of children. It can also be used in early education, child development, and child psychology courses, and as a supplemental text in the area of family studies. William A. Corsaro is the Robert H. Shaffer Class of 1967 Endowed Professor of Sociology at Indiana University, Bloomington, where he teaches courses on the sociology of childhood, childhood in contemporary society, and ethnographic research methods. Corsaro is the author of Friendship and Peer Culture in the Early Years (1985) and "We′re Friends, Right": Inside Kids′ Culture (2003). He was a Fulbright Senior Research Fellow in Bologna, Italy, in 1983-84 and a Fulbright Senior Specialist Fellow in Trondheim, Norway, in 2003. His research has been featured on NPR, the BBC in London, and in the New Yorker.