In 2006, the United Nations and the Cambodian government established the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) within the context of the post-Khmer Rouge Buddhist society, in which concepts such as ‘karma’, ‘reincarnation’, and ‘merit-making’ take root. The institution has been interpreted differently among victims whose views of justice are informed by the pre-existing Buddhist frameworks. Many participating victims sought to use it as a venue to accommodate their own ideas of justice linked with perceived obligations to seek peace for the spirits of their loved ones. Other non-participating victims showed disinterest in or resistance towards the formal processes, seeing them as undermining their ordinary, everyday justice-seeking efforts through Buddhist beliefs. This chapter looks into the (in)compatibility between liberal, retributive justice and Cambodian Buddhist justice through the narratives and lived experiences of both groups of victims, bringing attention to different perspectives on the vernacularisation of foreign justice models.

Social relationships are a fundamental component of the human experience, and decades of relationships research supports their central role in health and well-being. This chapter offers a broad look at research on social support in the context of close relationships, with particular emphasis on the role of social support in health. We first give an overview of the foundational theories of the field and discuss how social support has historically been conceptualized. We then discuss contemporary extensions of this work, including theories of invisible support, perceived responsiveness, thriving, dyadic perspectives of coping, and the implications of technology for support processes. We highlight important research on social support in diverse gender and cultural contexts, emphasizing the need for intersectional perspectives in this space. The chapter concludes with a discussion of key considerations for future research and intervention.

The current chapter focuses on the development of adolescents’ relationships with parents, friends, and romantic partners, and their role in youth’s psychosocial adjustment. The chapter describes how relationships with parents in adolescence go through a period of transition toward a more egalitarian and reciprocal relationship, with temporary decreases in connectedness and increases in conflict in the process. Adolescents’ relationships with friends become more supportive and acquire a more optimal balance between intimacy and respect for each other’s individual needs over the course of adolescence. Positive experiences of adolescents in relationships with parents and friends predict healthy romantic functioning and satisfaction later in adolescence and emerging adulthood. Romantic involvement and relationship quality typically progresses towards increased attachment and intimacy functions in late adolescence and young adulthood. Satisfactory romantic relationships and a healthy sexual development tend to go hand-in-hand. High-quality relationships with parents, friends, and romantic partners are typically associated with positive socioemotional outcomes.

This chapter focuses on the case study of Northern Ireland to interrogate the intersection between victimhood, victims’ groups as drivers of first-generation transitional justice, and the mobilisation of empathy. The chapter argues that while agency and participation are often presented as exclusively positive attributes, the moral economy of victimhood can compel individuals and groups to convey their suffering in a particular register to make their losses ‘matter’ and to ‘mobilise empathy’. In Northern Ireland, the absence of a formal process of dealing with the past and ongoing contest over the legal definition of a victim or survivor of the conflict has made these dynamics particularly acute. From situating victims’ groups as ‘moral communities’ to exploring how victimhood and demands for transitional justice are expressed in different registers across the two communities, this chapter adds a new lens to the study of victims and victim engagement in transitional justice.

In this chapter, we review and integrate the literature on friendships and acquaintanceships in adulthood. We begin with a broad perspective on friends and acquaintances by considering them as members of a larger social network, with friends as part of the inner layers and acquaintances in the outer layers. Then we review the literature focused on friendships, including their life course (formation, maintenance, and endings). Most friendships begin as acquaintances, but not all acquaintances become friends. In a third section we focus on the diverse types of acquaintances, factors associated with how many acquaintances people have, and the unique needs met by acquaintances. Friends and acquaintances have influences on many areas of people’s lives including their romantic relationships and their health and well-being, which are issues also discussed in this chapter.

Research on sex in relationships has proliferated in recent years, yielding valuable insights about sexuality in different types of relationships. In this chapter, we highlight recent work that has strengthened our understanding of couples’ everyday sexual experiences and their links to relational and broader well-being. We review how sexual experiences are shaped by individual differences (e.g., attachment orientation) and by the interplay of both romantic partners. We further highlight how the field has adapted to societal changes in relationships (e.g., consensual non-monogamy, casual sex, technology). Although existing research has discovered many important findings, much of it is limited in its generalizability to diverse populations beyond Western, monogamous, and cisgender man–woman couples. To address this oversight, we offer many minor but meaningful adjustments researchers can make to help ensure their measures and theories are inclusive, thereby helping to ensure future research on sex in relationships is representative of a broader population.

In Colombia, the category of ‘victim’ constitutes a significant legal and political identity, granting access to truth, justice, and reparation measures. Yet transitional justice processes often reinforce hegemonic narratives of ‘ideal victimhood’, reproducing gendered, racial, and political-military stereotypes that marginalise those who deviate from these norms. Focusing on conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), this chapter examines how social movements, particularly women’s and LGBTQI+ groups, contest dominant imaginaries of the ‘ideal SGBV victim’ as a passive, cisgender, heterosexual civilian woman. These groups advocate for inclusive approaches within Colombia’s Truth Commission and Special Jurisdiction for Peace. The chapter contrasts their efforts with the case of Corporación Rosa Blanca, former FARC women combatants who strategically embrace the ‘ideal victim’ narrative to secure legitimacy. This group contrasts with more progressive victims’ groups and illustrates how they navigate between complex identities and traditional victimhood narratives in Colombia’s transitional justice.

Social relationships are not only linked to emotional well-being, but also significantly associated with physical health. Reviewing the epidemiological and experimental body of research reveals evidence of directional and potentially causal associations between social connection and health and longevity. This is consistent with theoretical approaches to social relationships including attachment, social baseline, social network, and social support theory, all of which identify social relationships as vital to health and well-being. Theoretical models further conceptualize how it is that social relationships influence health. The growing scientific evidence documents some of the biological and behavioral pathways involved. While the evidence on the associations between social relationships and health is robust, the literature is uneven pointing to the need for further research on the complex nature of relationship quality and tech-based social connection.

Relationship science spans multiple disciplines of inquiry, ranging from neuroscience to demography, and is a dynamic enterprise, rich with ongoing discovery. The field’s breadth and pace thus present both challenges and opportunities to those who introduce it to others. This chapter draws on surveys and interviews of instructors to consider their choices of the topics they teach, comparing the content of relationships courses from one discipline to another. Substantial similarities and disciplinary distinctiveness are both found to exist. Then, we focus on the partnerships between teachers and their students, examining how specific relationship processes (such as self-disclosure) and qualities of instructors (such as empathy and immediacy) contribute to student engagement and learning. We also address new challenges in the teaching of relationship science that include the remote nature of online instruction, the increasing diversity of our students, and the emergence of generative artificial intelligence. Finally, the value of relationships courses to the students who take them is assessed.

This chapter provides an overview of major empirically supported approaches to treating relationship distress among committed couples based upon criteria proposed by Chambless and Hollon (1998). Based on these criteria, we discuss behavioral couple therapy and its derivatives, including cognitive behavioral couple therapy and integrative behavioral couple therapy; emotionally focused couple therapy, and insight-oriented couple therapy. Each approach’s underlying theory and empirical support are described. We also note the development of a trans-theoretical model emphasizing central factors across theoretical approaches. This chapter also examines theoretical and empirical work on couple interventions beyond treatment of general distress to applications with specific, difficult-to-treat relationship problems, such as intimate partner violence (IPV). We also review couple-based interventions for individual problems, with an overview of some empirically-supported conjoint treatments for psychopathology. In addition, we address the importance of ensuring that interventions are sensitive and appropriate for couples traditionally underrepresented in empirical studies of couples (e.g., older couples, same-sex couples). Finally, we briefly discuss teletherapy and internet-based interventions to assist couples.

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.

Daily hassles and critical life events cause stress not only to individuals but also to close others, particularly partners in committed relationships. This chapter covers an overview of theoretical models and empirical studies on the effects of stress on couples and dyadic coping (DC; how couples cope with stress together). In the 1990s several theoretical innovations expanded individual coping to include both members of the couple. These theoretical models are briefly reviewed and synthesized in a general model of DC, the Systemic Transactional Model (STM), which is the most frequently used in research. We provide a current overview of empirical studies about couples dealing with daily hassles, major life events, and chronic stress, like physical health issues and disability or mental disorders. DC has been established internationally as a highly relevant construct in many disciplines. Recent developments are addressed and implications given for future research and clinical applications.