Springer Friendship and Happiness: Across the Life-Span and Cultures

This is the first book that explicitly focuses on the relationships between various types of friendship experiences and happiness. It addresses historical, theoretical, and measurement issues in the study of friendship and happiness (e.g., why friends are important for happiness). In order to achieve a balanced evaluation of this area as a whole, many chapters in the book conclude with a critical appraisal of what is known about the role of friendship in happiness, and provide important directions for future research. Experts from different parts of the world provide in-depth, authoritative reviews on the association between different types of friendship experiences (e.g., friendship quantity, quality) and happiness in different age groups and cultures. An ideal resource for researchers and students of positive psychology, this rich, clear, and up-to-date book serves as an important reference for academicians in related fields of psychology such as cross-cultural, developmental and social. Review “Demir is to be touted for obtaining the perspectives and research from 43 authors … heralding from 16 different countries. … The book … would enrich undergraduate and graduate students of psychology, gerontology, philosophy, cultural anthropology, gender studies, and sociology. I would recommend it as a primer for graduate students about to embark on their original research as both a blueprint of what to do―and not―when operationalizing―or indeed, choosing―mercurial, multifaceted concepts.” (Carol A. Gosselink, PsycCRITIQUES, Vol. 60 (49), December, 2015) From the Back Cover This is the first book that explicitly focuses on the relationships between various types of friendship experiences and happiness. It addresses historical, theoretical, and measurement issues in the study of friendship and happiness (e.g., why friends are important for happiness). In order to achieve a balanced evaluation of this area as a whole, many chapters in the book conclude with a critical appraisal of what is known about the role of friendship in happiness, and provide important directions for future research. Experts from different parts of the world provide in-depth, authoritative reviews on the association between different types of friendship experiences (e.g., friendship quantity, quality) and happiness in different age groups and cultures. An ideal resource for researchers and students of positive psychology, this rich, clear, and up-to-date book serves as an important reference for academicians in related fields of psychology such as cross-cultural, developmental and social. About the Author Melikşah Demir received his Ph.D. in developmental psychology from Wayne State University (Detroit, Michigan, USA) in 2007. He is currently an associate professor at Northern Arizona University (Flagstaff, Arizona, USA) since then. Since his graduate school years, Demir has been conducting research on friendship and happiness in different age groups (e.g., Demir & Urberg, 2004; Demir & Weitekamp, 2007; Demir, 2010). His current research focuses on delineating the processes and mechanisms responsible for the friendship-happiness link (e.g., Demir & Ozdemir, 2010). Specifically, Melikşah Demir is testing different theoretical models that could explain why friendship is related to happiness. He also conducts cross-cultural studies to examine whether the role of friendship in happiness is similar in different cultures.