This book provides a comprehensive overview of the many components of well-being and the many factors which can influence it. As opposed to the books which explore just a single component of it or the well-being of one group at one time in one culture, it begins by reviewing theories of the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral components of well-being, and variations in relationships, time, and cultures that can influence well-being. It emphasizes that positive and negative well-being of comes in reaction to needs being met or not being met or perceived as being threatened and a primary means of meeting needs is by interacting with others, in single encounters or on-going relationships. Part II presents new analyses of five studies that compare various types of relationship partners and singles, confirming that on average relationship partners often have higher well-being than singles. But many singles have high well-being, and some relationship partners have low well-being, with singles being more at risk of low well-being. Previous research has paid insufficient attention to the well-being of singles, who are an increasing percentage of adults. To conclude , the book provides and overview of the ways in which individuals, communities, therapists, and researchers can promote well-being. Charles T.

Hill is Professor of Psychology at Whittier College, California, USA, where he won the Nerhood Teaching Excellence Award. He has a PhD in Social Psychology from Harvard University, an M. A. in Sociology and an M. S. in physics from the University of Washington, and a B. A. in Physics from the Honors College at the University of Oregon.

He is member of the American Psychological Association, the American Sociological Association, and the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology. K. Bahar Aydin is Associate Professor of Psychology at Ankara Yildirim Beyazit University, Türkiye. She has a PhD in Counseling Psychology from the University of Ankara, Türkiye, and was a research scholar at Georgia State University, USA. She has founded Singles Counseling Theory (2017). She is founder and president of the Singles Counseling Association, and she is a member of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology.