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.

This volume focuses on the experience of growing old as it is linked to societal factors. Ryff and Marshall construct this "macro" view of aging in society by bridging disciplines and brining together contributors from all the social sciences.

The book is organized into three sections: theoretical perspectives, socioeconomic structures, and contexts of self and society. Leading psychologists, anthropologists, gerontologists, and sociologists present theoretical and empirical advances that forge links between the individual and the social aspects of aging. It is must reading for researchers in all gerontologic specialties, and a valuable text for graduate courses in human development, psychology of aging, and other social aspects of aging.

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.L 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.