Personal Relationships: Implications for Clinical and Community Psychology (Social & Personal Relationships)

What role do relationships play in the individual's health and the functioning of families and communities? Recent research indicates that relationships are important not only to individuals' well-being, but also to families, whilst their importance in the functioning of communities is only beginning to be recognized and investigated in a systematic way. Each chapter is focused on a cutting-edge application of the personal relationships perspective relevant to clinical and community psychology. The book addresses such issues as the effect of close personal relationships on health outcomes, the impact of genetic testing, family relationships and major mental disorders, and social support dynamics in adjustment to disasters. Theoretical viewpoints and research findings, as well as intervention strategies, are presented on a variety of levels from individual to family to community. Personal Relationships: Implications for Clinical and Community Psychology is essential reading for researchers and scholars within the relationships field, students of clinical and community psychology, social work and psychological nursing.

STEVE DUCK is the Daniel and Amy Starch Distinguished Research Professor at the University of Iowa and has been a keen promoter of the field of personal relationships research since it was formed. He co-founded the first International Conference on Personal Relationships in 1982, and was founder and first editor of the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, first President of the International Network on Personal Relationships, the professional organisation for the research field, and editor of the first edition of the Handbook of Personal Relationships. The Steve Duck New Scholar award was endowed and named in his honour by a group of independent scholars to recognize his promotion of the work of younger professionals and his dedication to developing the field. BARBARA R. SARASON, Research Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Washington, has worked extensively in the research areas of stress,coping, social support, and the role personal relationships play in health and well-being. She has published more than 100 articles and book chapters in these areas as well as work on psychological strategies to promote prosocial behaviour and the influence of cultural factors on family and social relationships, especially among immigrants and minority groups. She is co-editor of several books, inclduing four on social support and one on cognitive interference and anxiety in social situations and is currently an associate editor of the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.