The Emerging Field of Personal Relationships

Originally published in 1986, this book is a result of the first International Conference on Personal Relationships held in 1982. The conference itself was a significant event in publicly bringing together major figures whose work was starting to define the new area of personal relationships. The chapters are arranged to follow the structure of the conference program, with major opening and closing discussions covering the whole field and the rest of the chapters grouped under the headings of Depiction and Taxonomy of Relationships; Development and Growth of Relationships and Disorder and Repair of Relationships. The result is by no means a comprehensive treatment of the field, but the editors hoped that the book highlighted significant issues in personal relationship research as well as some excellent examples of the ways in which issues and problems were being tackled at the time. They also hoped that it would have an effect on the future development of the field of personal relationships by indicating its value and potential.

Robin Gilmour, Steve Duck

Contributors. Preface. Part 1: Introduction and Overview 1. Personal Relationships: Their Nature and Significance Harold H. Kelley Part 2: Depiction and Taxonomy of Relationships 2. The Skills, Rules, and Goals of Relationships Michael Argyle 3. The Structural Analysis of Primary Relationships G. P. Ginsburg 4. Relationships, Personality, and the Social Situation Robert A. Hinde and Joan Stevenson-Hinde 5. Dyads, Cliques, and Conspiracies: Friendship Behaviours and Perceptions Within Long-Established Social Groups Barry McCarthy 6. Gender Effects in Social Participation: Intimacy, Loneliness, and the Conduct of Social Interaction Harry T. Reis Part 3: Development and Growth of Relationships 7. When the Honeymoon's Over: Changes in the Marriage Relationship Over the First Year Ted L. Huston, Susan M. McHale, and Ann C. Crouter 8. Charting the Development of Personal Relationships Steve Duck and Dorothy Miell 9. Interaction Characteristics of Disengaging, Stable, and Growing Relationships Leslie A. Baxter and William W. Wilmot 10. The Relation Between Patterns of Friendship, Self-Concept, and Conceptions of Friendship in Six-Year-Olds Harriet K. A. Sants 11. The Development of Preferred Relationships in Preschool Children: Child-Child and Child-Adult Relationships Grazia Attili Part 4: Disorder and Repair of Relationships 12. Attribution in the Termination of Close Relationships: A Special Focus on the Account John H. Harvey, Ann L. Weber, Kathryn S. Galvin, Heather C. Huszti and Nettie N. Garnick 13. Beyond Marriage: The Impact of Partner Loss on Health Wolfgang Stroebe and Margaret S. Stroebe 14. Examining the Causes and Consequences of Jealousy: Some Recent Findings and Issues Robert G. Bringle and Bram Buunk 15. Loneliness and the Degree of Intimacy in Interpersonal Relationships Jenny de Jong-Gierveld 16. Individual and Interpersonal Factors in the Etiology of Marital Distress: The Example of Remarital Couples Janet Farrell and Howard J. Markman Part 5: Summary and Perspective 17. Mea Culpas and Lamentations: Sir Francis, Sir Isaac, and "The Slow Progress of Soft Psychology" Ellen Berscheid. References. Author Index. Subject Index.