Thriving families and friendships are close interpersonal relationships with significant impact on experiences of mattering and well-being across the lifespan. This chapter explores the social ecology of thriving through interpersonal relationships with family and friends. The focus is on how relationships are shaped by their types of constellations as well as interdependent processual, contextual, and political drivers. The chapter concludes that valuing families and friends as the basic units of thriving ultimately might have ripple effects on intergenerational solidarity and promote social cohesion and reciprocal support in the wider society.

Our approach to thriving encompasses not just the growth of individuals but also of collectives. Therefore, when we talk about how people thrive in this chapter and throughout the book, we refer to people in the singular and in the plural. Instead of creating a dichotomy between individual and community, we refer to people as comprising the unique lives of each one of us, the relational bonds that tie us together, and the communities and settings we are a part of. Our definition of thriving acknowledges the primordial role of situational fairness, the phenomenology of worthiness, and the myriad forms of wellness. In other words, thriving consists of context + experiences + outcomes. We submit that the key context impacting our ability to thrive as individuals and collectives is one of fairness. Similarly, we argue that key experiences have to do with mattering and a sense of worth, both of which have to do with feeling valued and opportunities to add value. Finally, we make the point that wellness exists in multiple forms and for people to thrive they should nurture all of them.