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Quality ties to others are universally endorsed as central to optimal living. Social sci entists have extensively studied the relational world, but in somewhat separate litera tures (eg, attachment, close relationships, marital and family ties, social support). Studies of intimacy and close connection are infrequently connected to health, whereas studies of health and social support rarely intersect with literatures on rela tional flourishing. Efforts to probe underlying physiological processes have been dis proportionately concerned with the negative (eg, adverse effects of relational con flict). A worthy goal for the new millennium is promoting greater cross talk between these realms via a focus on the positive health implications of interpersonal flourish ing. Vital venues for the future include mapping the emotional configurations of qual ity social relationships and elaborating their physiological substrates.

Defining health as the …