Psychology

Decades of empirical research have shown that friendship experiences are an essential predictor of happiness. However, what might account for the relationship between friendship and happiness? Two studies investigated perceived mattering (Marshall, J Adolesc 24:473–490, 2001) as a mediator of the association between friendship quality and happiness. Study 1 showed that perceived mattering to one’s best friend mediated the relationship between friendship and happiness. Study 2 replicated the findings of the first study and showed that mattering in friendships accounts for the role of friendship quality in happiness across the three closest friendships of the individual. The results are discussed in terms of the theoretical importance of understanding how friendship is related to happiness.

The present investigation examined the role of multiple close relationships (mother, father, best friend, and romantic partner, if any) in happiness among emerging adults with and without a romantic partner. The results for those without a partner (n = 152) revealed that only the relationship experiences with mother and best friend were predictive of happiness. On the other hand, the findings for those with a partner (n = 159) showed that only three factors, namely mother–child relationship quality, romantic relationship quality and conflict were predictive of happiness. The results for this group also suggested that romantic relationship quality was protective of best friendship conflict; moreover, best friendship quality did not buffer the negative impact of romantic partner conflict on happiness, suggesting a less important role of best friends in happiness. In other words, the findings suggest that when emerging adults are involved in a romantic relationship, friends’ importance in happiness might be less pronounced or not pronounced at all. The results were discussed in light of the literature and suggestions were made for future research.

Friendship quality is an important predictor of happiness, however, what might account for the association between the two? Two studies investigated satisfaction of basic psychological needs as a mediator of the relationship between friendship quality and happiness. Study 1 (n = 424) found support for the model for best friendship. Second study (n = 176) replicated the first study and showed that needs satisfaction in best and two closest friendships mediated the relationship between the quality of all friendships and happiness. The findings suggest that one reason why the quality of friendships is related to happiness is because friendship experiences provide a context where basic needs are satisfied.

Friendships are an important source of happiness. The present study (n = 280) investigated the role of friendship quality and conflict in happiness and examined the feature of friendship that best predicted happiness. Information was gathered about the quality and conflict of the best, first and second close friendships of the individual. Results revealed that best friendship quality was the only significant predictor of happiness; however, individuals were happier when they experienced high quality first close friendships in conjunction with a high quality best friendship. Results also revealed that first close friendship quality buffered the negative impact of first close friendship conflict. The companionship feature of the best and first close friendship appeared as the strongest predictor of happiness. Findings were discussed in light of the literature and suggestions for future research were made.

In this paper we apply a dynamic systems perspective to infant emotional development. We propose that emotions are not states but self-organizing dynamic processes intimately tied to the flow of an individual's activity in a context. We review data on the relationship between emotional actions and the social context, in particular the development of smiling and laughter. These data are more adequately explained by our perspective than by other theories of emotional development. We provide a model for how emotional processes in early infancy become embedded into sociocultural systems, and suggest new avenues of research on emotional development.

Infant faces are highly salient social stimuli that appear to elicit intuitive parenting behaviors in healthy adult
women. Behavioral and observational studies indicate that this effect may be modulated by experiences of reproduction,
caregiving, and psychiatric symptomatology that affect normative attention and reward processing of
infant cues. However, relatively little is known about the neural correlates of these effects. Using the event-related
potential (ERP) technique, this study investigated the impact of parental status (mother, non-mother) and depression
symptoms on early visual processing of infant faces in a community sample of adult women. Specifically,
the P1 and N170 ERP components elicited in response to infant face stimuli were examined. While characteristics
of the N170 were not modulated by parental status, a statistically significant positive correlation was observed
between depression symptom severity and N170 amplitude. This relationship was not observed for the P1. These
results suggest that depression symptoms may modulate early neurophysiological responsiveness to infant cues,
even at sub-clinical levels.