Interpersonal Relationships and Health

Christopher R. Agnew, Ph.D., is Professor and Head of the Department of Psychological Sciences at Purdue University. His research focuses on close, interpersonal relationships and the use of relational models to understand broader social and health processes. He is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, American Psychological Association, and the Society of Experimental Social Psychology and served as President of the International Association for Relationship Research.Susan C. South, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Purdue University. Her research investigates the links between marriage and personality and psychopathology. She has published widely on the assessment of marital satisfaction, the links between mental illness and marital distress, and the gene-environment interplay between marital dysfunction and mental illness.

• Preface ; Contributors ; Part One: Introduction ; Interpersonal Relationships and Health: Where the Social and Clinical Converge ; Christopher R. Agnew and Susan C. South ; Part Two: Biology of Interpersonal Relationships ; 1. Relationship Researchers Put the 'Psycho' in Psychoneuroimmunology ; Timothy J. Loving and Elizabeth Keneski ; 2. On Marriage and the Heart: Models, Methods, and Mechanisms in the Study of Close Relationships and Cardiovascular Disease ; Timothy W. Smith, Carolynne E. Baron, and Catherine M. Caska ; 3. Family Relationships and Cortisol in Everyday Life ; Richard B. Slatcher ; 4. Divorce and Health Outcomes: From Social Epidemiology to Social Psychophysiology ; David A. Sbarra, Widyasita Nojopranoto, and Karen Hasselmo ; Part Three: Marital, Family, and Social Relationships, Health and Well-Being ; 5. It Sometimes Takes Two: Marriage as a Mechanism for Managing Chronic Illness ; Mary Ann Parris Stephens, Rachel C. Hemphill, Karen S. Rook, and Melissa M. Franks ; 6. The Couple and Family Discord Model of Depression: Updates and Future Directions ; Steven R. H. Beach ; 7. Intimate Partner Violence: A Biopsychosocial, Social Information Processing Perspective ; Christopher M. Murphy, Amber E.Q. Norwood, and Gina M. Poole ; 8. Interparental Conflict and Children's Mental Health: Emerging Directions in Emotional Security Theory ; E. Mark Cummings, Kalsea J. Koss, and Rebecca Y. M. Cheung ; 9. Social Connectedness at Older Ages and Implications for Health and Well-Being ; Linda J. Waite, James Iveniuk, and Edward O. Laumann ; 10. Trajectories of Within-Relationship Relationship Quality, Relationship Satisfaction and Sexual Satisfaction among Young African-American Women ; J. Dennis Fortenberry and Devon J. Hensel ; 11. Personality Effects on Risky Sexual Behavior: The Importance of Dynamic Situational Processes and Relational Contexts ; M. Lynne Cooper and Ruixue Zhaoyang ; Part Four: Synthesizing Social and Clinical Approaches to Relationships and Health ; 12. Putting it all Together: Synthesizing Social and Clinical Approaches to Relationships and Health ; Susan C. South

This book is necessary reading for anyone interested in the intersection of close relationships and health, but it would be informative even for relationship science scholars who do not have specific interests in health research as the research and theories presented can inform and expand understanding of basic relationship processes This book does a good job of explaining how interpersonal relationships impact health and well-being. It explores both biological and psychological factors while presenting theories and intervention strategies. It will appeal to a wide audience.