Close relationships and social psychology: intersections and future paths

The study of close relationships is both a subarea within social psychology and a field involving scholars from many disciplines. We first describe th e development and current state of the field. Next we discuss four issues r aised in the literature on close relationships that have particular import for social psychology: the relational embeddedness of social behavior, coup le identity, social networks, and love. We end by suggesting several avenue s for future research: the social environmental context; the influence of c ultural, social structural and historical factors; the dark side of relatio nships; and greater interchange between theories within social psychology, sociology, and close relationships.