Friendships are an important source of happiness, well-being, physical health, and longevity. Researchers have often linked unidimensional friendship quality to life satisfaction and positive affect, which are hedonic forms of well-being. Aristotle presented an expanded view of friendship with three general characteristics: Utility, Pleasure, and Virtue. Following his theory, we expected Pleasure and Utility characteristics to be primarily related to hedonic well-being (HWB). In contrast, we expected Virtue characteristics to be more strongly related to eudaimonic well-being (EWB), which includes meaning, personal growth, and positive relationships in this study. This exploratory study assessed Aristotle’s theory about friendship and well-being with 375 participants. Two exploratory structural equation models were tested. There was an indirect relationship between Utility characteristics and HWB through Help Received. A friend’s Virtue characteristics had an indirect relationship with EWB through the reliability of the friendship. These findings indicate that friendship characteristics related to utility and virtue friendships appear to have differential implications for understanding the role of friends in happiness and flourishing.
In this article, we review the research evidence generated over 40 years on Brief Strategic Family Therapy illustrating the NIH stages of intervention development and highlighting the translational process. Basic research (Stage 0) led to the discovery of the characteristics of the population and the nature of the problems that needed to be addressed. This step informed the selection of an intervention model that addressed the problems presented by the population, but in a fashion that was congruent with the population's culture, defined in terms of its value orientations. From this basic research, an intervention that integrated structural and strategic elements was selected and refined through testing (Stage I). The second stage of translation (Stage II) included efficacy trials of a specialized engagement module that responded to challenges to the provision of services. It also included several other efficacy trials that documented the effects of the intervention, mostly in research settings or with research therapists. Stages III/IV in the translational process led to the testing of the effectiveness of the intervention in real-world settings with community therapists and some oversight from the developer. This work revealed that an implementation/organizational intervention was required to achieve fidelity and sustainability of the intervention in real-world settings. The work is currently in Stage V in which new model development led to an implementation intervention that can ensure fidelity and sustainability. Future research will evaluate the effectiveness of the current implementation model in increasing adoption, fidelity, and long-term sustainability in real-world settings.
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