Close Relationships and Happiness across Cultures

This volume focuses explicitly on close relationships as a reliable source for individual happiness and well-being across cultures. The work in this volume addresses theoretical issues and presents new cross-cultural data in the study of close relationships and happiness. Experts from different parts of the world provide in-depth, authoritative reviews and new findings on the relationship between various types of close bonds (e.g., intimate, marital, friendship, grandparent) and happiness in a variety of cultures. An ideal resource for researchers and students of relationship science and 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, social, and developmental.

Melik?ah Demir is an Associate Professor of Psychological Sciences at Northern Arizona University (Flagstaff, AZ, USA). He earned his Master's and Doctoral degrees in Developmental Psychology at Wayne State University. His main research interests are friendship and happiness. His past work focuses on how and why various friendships experiences are associated with happiness in different cultures. His current research program addresses methodological issues in the assessment of friendship and includes the validation of new constructs tapping into various aspects of subjective experience within friendships (specifically, perceived friendship uniqueness and inspiration in the friendship). He is currently serving as an associate editor for the journal Emerging Adulthood. 

Nebi S?mer is a Professor of Psychology at Middle East Technical University

(METU) in Ankara, Turkey. He received his Master's degree in Developmental Psychology from Hacettepe University in Ankara, and Doctoral degree in Social Psychology from Kansas State University. He was a visiting Fulbright professor at Cornell University in 2011-2012. S?mer is a social developmental psychologist with research interests in close relationships, aberrant driver behaviors, and the effects of unemployment. His research on close relationships mainly focuses on the cultural aspects of attachment across the lifespan, maternal sensitivity, and parenting behaviors. He has been involved in several national and international projects funded by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUB?TAK) and European Commission. S?mer has also held a number of academic administrative positions including Department Chair, Vice President of METU Northern Cyprus Campus, and served as a consultant and scientific committee member in many national and international organizations, such as the Turkish National Police Traffic Safety Research Center and European Federation of Psychologists' Associations. He is a member of Turkey's Science Academy Association.