Carol D. Ryff - Böcker

Most health research to date has been pursued within the confines of scientific disciplines that are guided by their own targeted questions and research strategies. Although useful, such inquiries are inherently limited in advancing understanding the interplay of wide-ranging factors that shape human health. The Oxford Handbook of Integrative Health Science embraces an integrative approach that seeks to put together sociodemographic factors (age, gender, race, socioeconomic status) known to contour rates of morbidity and mortality with psychosocial factors (emotion, cognition, personality, well-being, social connections), behavioral factors (health practices) and stress exposures (caregiving responsibilities, divorce, discrimination) also known to influence health. A further overarching theme is to explicate the biological pathways through which these various effects occur. The biopsychosocial leitmotif that inspires this approach demands new kinds of studies wherein wide-ranging assessments across different domains are assembled on large population samples. The MIDUS (Midlife in the U.S.) national longitudinal study exemplifies such an integrative study, and all findings presented in this collection draw on MIDUS. The way the study evolved, via collaboration of scientists working across disciplinary lines, and its enthusiastic reception from the scientific community are all part of the larger story told. Embedded within such tales are important advances in the identification of key protective or vulnerability factors: these pave the way for practice and policy initiatives seeking to improve the nation's health.

A growing literature, on humans and animals, documents linkages between social integration and affiliative relationships and a variety of health and disease outcomes,including mortality. The actual mechanisms through which these efforts occur are, however, not well understood. Emotion likely plays a central role in mediating connections between relational experiences, underlying neurobiological processes, and health outcomes. Many prior studies have focused on the size and proximity of social networks, thereby neglecting their emotional features. When studied, emotion in social relationships has also been heavily weighted on the side of negative and conflictual interactions, thus giving minimal attention to the possible protective benefits of enduring love, nurturance, and affection. This volume brings together, for the fist time, these differing lines of inquiry to advance understanding of how emotion in significant social relationships influences health. The collection integrates knowledge from those with expertise in mapping the nature of emotional experience in human relations with those who are linking social ties to health outcomes, and those who explicate underlying neurobiological mechanisms. A main message of the book is that full explication of how emotion, social relationships, and health are woven together demands multidisciplinary inquiry.To this end, the volume brings together leading experts from fields of affective science, clinical and social psychology, epidemiology, psychiatry, psychoneuroimmunology, psychoneuroendocrinology, and health to promote the above synthesis. Some address how to formulate, observe, and evaluate social interactions inclinical, laboratory, or daily life contexts. Others link emotional experience in significant social relationships to health outcomes or intervening biological parameters. Still others manipulate social environments or exposure to health challenge to assess impact on respiratory infections and immune function. Collectively, each contributes different pieces to the larger puzzle that connects emotion in social realtionships to health.Recurrent themes include the importance of attending to: (1) both positive and negative emotional experience in significant social reltionships and how they influence underlying mechanisms; (2) cumulative emotional experience--namely, the repeated, chronic nature of socioemotional experience (both positive and negative); (3) gender differences in how emotion in social relationships is experienced and how it effects underlying mechanisms involved in helath outcomes; and (4) the need for multiple methodologies to advance the emotion, socal relationships, and health agenda.

How physically and psychologically healthy are Americans at midlife? And why do some experience greater well-being than others? The MacArthur Foundation addressed these questions head-on by funding a landmark study known as "Midlife in the U.S." (MIDUS). "How Healthy Are We?" presents the key findings from the survey in three sections: physical health, quality of life and psychological well-being, and the contexts of midlife. This wide-ranging study measures not only health - the absence of illness - but also reports on the presence of wellness in middle-aged Americans. Researchers, policymakers, and others concerned with the quality of midlife will welcome its insights.

New Horizons in Health discusses how the National Institutes of Health (NIH) can integrate research in the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences to better understand the causes of disease as well as interventions that promote health. It outlines a set of research priorities for consideration by the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR), with particular attention to research that can support and complement the work of the National Institutes of Health. By addressing the range of interactions among social settings, behavioral patterns, and important health concerns, it highlights areas of scientific opportunity where significant investment is most likely to improve nationala "and globala "health outcomes. These opportunities will apply the knowledge and methods of the behavioral and social sciences to contemporary health needs, and give attention to the chief health concerns of the general public.

Using a variety of methodological and theoretical perspectives, the authors of this collection discuss women's power within the various sociocultural contexts in which women operate—such as the workplace, the family, and other interpersonal relationships—and the differential nature of women's power and influence over their life course. Personality characteristics associated with mastery and influence are examined, as are the limitations imposed by societal norms and expectations. Finally, the authors discuss the development of theories about women's power and suggest ways in which women's roles—and consequently, women's influence—are changing as new societal values evolve.

Using a variety of methodological and theoretical perspectives, the authors of this collection discuss women's power within the various sociocultural contexts in which women operate—such as the workplace, the family, and other interpersonal relationships—and the differential nature of women's power and influence over their life course. Personality characteristics associated with mastery and influence are examined, as are the limitations imposed by societal norms and expectations. Finally, the authors discuss the development of theories about women's power and suggest ways in which women's roles—and consequently, women's influence—are changing as new societal values evolve.