Book contents
- The Cambridge Handbook of Personal Relationships
- Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology
- The Cambridge Handbook of Personal Relationships
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Personal Relationships
- 1 The Tides of Change: Recent Trends and Developments in Close Relationships Research
- 2 Theories and Research in Personal Relationships
- 3 Lift Every Voice: An Inclusive Perspective on Considering Methodological Trade-Offs in Relationships Research
- 4 Dyadic Data Analysis: Current Issues and Directions
- 5 Relationship Beginnings: Selection and Initiation
- 6 Relationship Development and Growth
- 7 The Longitudinal Course of Couple Relationships
- 8 Recent Advances in Research on Children’s Friendships
- 9 Personal Relationships with Parents and Peers in Adolescence
- 10 Close Relationships in Middle and Late Adulthood
- 11 Family Systems and Family Relationships: Family Subsystems Across Diverse Families
- 12 Personality Influences in Relationships: How Self-Esteem, Neuroticism, and Agreeableness Affect Hurt Feelings
- 13 Internal Working Models of Attachment: A Lifespan Perspective
- 14 Ethnicity, Culture, and Close Relationships:
- 15 Relationship Neuroscience
- 16 Interpersonal Social Cognition and Relationship Evaluation
- 17 Communication: Basic Properties and Their Relevance to Relationship Research
- 18 How Communal Relational Contexts Shape (and Are Shaped by) Emotional Lives
- 19 Self-Disclosure in Relationships: Disclosure Dynamics as a Seismograph of Relationship Quality
- 20 Social Support in Close Relationships
- 21 Understanding Couple Conflict
- 22 Sexuality in Relationships: Highlights and Oversights from Recent Research
- 23 Transgressions, (Un)forgiveness, and Revenge
- 24 Stress and Dyadic Coping
- 25 Aggression and Violence in Romantic Relationships
- 26 Understanding the Problem of Loneliness and the Challenge of Addressing It
- 27 Relationship Dissolution
- 28 Love in Relationships
- 29 Relationship Satisfaction
- 30 Commitment Processes in Close Relationships
- 31 Relationships and Physical Health
- 32 Social Networks and Personal Relationships
- 33 Friendships and Acquaintanceships
- 34 Technology and Personal Relationships
- 35 Examining Intimate Relationships across Black Populations with a Focus on Context
- 36 Promoting Healthy Couple Relationships
- 37 Maintaining Relationships
- 38 Treating Relationship Distress
- 39 Teaching Relationship Science
- 40 Relationship Science: A Hard Look at the State of the Science and an Agenda for Moving Forward
- Index
- References
Personal Relationships
An Introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 February 2026
Book contents
- The Cambridge Handbook of Personal Relationships
- Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology
- The Cambridge Handbook of Personal Relationships
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Personal Relationships
- 1 The Tides of Change: Recent Trends and Developments in Close Relationships Research
- 2 Theories and Research in Personal Relationships
- 3 Lift Every Voice: An Inclusive Perspective on Considering Methodological Trade-Offs in Relationships Research
- 4 Dyadic Data Analysis: Current Issues and Directions
- 5 Relationship Beginnings: Selection and Initiation
- 6 Relationship Development and Growth
- 7 The Longitudinal Course of Couple Relationships
- 8 Recent Advances in Research on Children’s Friendships
- 9 Personal Relationships with Parents and Peers in Adolescence
- 10 Close Relationships in Middle and Late Adulthood
- 11 Family Systems and Family Relationships: Family Subsystems Across Diverse Families
- 12 Personality Influences in Relationships: How Self-Esteem, Neuroticism, and Agreeableness Affect Hurt Feelings
- 13 Internal Working Models of Attachment: A Lifespan Perspective
- 14 Ethnicity, Culture, and Close Relationships:
- 15 Relationship Neuroscience
- 16 Interpersonal Social Cognition and Relationship Evaluation
- 17 Communication: Basic Properties and Their Relevance to Relationship Research
- 18 How Communal Relational Contexts Shape (and Are Shaped by) Emotional Lives
- 19 Self-Disclosure in Relationships: Disclosure Dynamics as a Seismograph of Relationship Quality
- 20 Social Support in Close Relationships
- 21 Understanding Couple Conflict
- 22 Sexuality in Relationships: Highlights and Oversights from Recent Research
- 23 Transgressions, (Un)forgiveness, and Revenge
- 24 Stress and Dyadic Coping
- 25 Aggression and Violence in Romantic Relationships
- 26 Understanding the Problem of Loneliness and the Challenge of Addressing It
- 27 Relationship Dissolution
- 28 Love in Relationships
- 29 Relationship Satisfaction
- 30 Commitment Processes in Close Relationships
- 31 Relationships and Physical Health
- 32 Social Networks and Personal Relationships
- 33 Friendships and Acquaintanceships
- 34 Technology and Personal Relationships
- 35 Examining Intimate Relationships across Black Populations with a Focus on Context
- 36 Promoting Healthy Couple Relationships
- 37 Maintaining Relationships
- 38 Treating Relationship Distress
- 39 Teaching Relationship Science
- 40 Relationship Science: A Hard Look at the State of the Science and an Agenda for Moving Forward
- Index
- References
Summary
As far back as Aristotle, humans have been recognized as social animals. Most scholars, regardless of their theoretical background, agree that social connections are the basis of the human condition. From birth, and even before, our relationships with others are key to survival (Reis et al., 2000). Infants who have close social bonds with their primary caretakers are more likely to thrive during their lives than those who do not (Groh et al., 2017). As children grow, their primary dyadic relationships proliferate into webs of social connections (Weeks & Asher, Chapter 8, this volume). These social connections, in turn, give rise to the creativity, structure, and ingenuity that allow us to improve society. Clearly, the advances that humans have made depend heavily on collective action.
Information
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Handbook of Personal Relationships , pp. 1 - 8Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
References
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