Close Relationships and Happiness across Cultures

Melikşah 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 Sümer is a Professor of Psychology at Middle East Technical University(METU) in Ankara, Turkey. He received his Master’s degree in Developmental Psychology from HacettepeUniversity in Ankara, and Doctoral degree in Social Psychology from Kansas State University. He was a visiting Fulbright professor at Cornell University in 2011-2012. Sümer 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 (TUBİTAK) and European Commission. Sümer 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.

• Responsiveness as a Key Predictor of Happiness: Mechanisms and Unanswered Questions.- Interdependent Happiness: Progress and Implications.- Parent-Child Relationships and Happiness across Cultures.- Intimate Relationships and Happiness in Asia: A Critical Review.- Close Relationships and Happiness in South America.- The Transition to Grandparenthood: A Chance to Promote Well-Being and Personal Growth.- My Relationships Are My Estate: Relationships with Kin and Voluntary Bonds as Predictors of Happiness among Emerging Adults.- Number of Close Friends and their Links to Life Satisfaction over the Great Recession in Germany.- The Relationships between Filial Piety, Self-Esteem, and Life Satsfaction among Emerging Adults in Taiwan.- Cultural Aspects of Attachment Anxiety, Avoidance and Life Satisfaction: Comparing the US and Turkey.- Reconciliation Sentiment, Forgiveness, and Mental Health among Genocide Victims.- Cultural Orientations and Well-Being in Greece: Dyad-Level Processes.