Relational competence---the set of traits that allow people to interact with each other effectively---enjoys a long history of being recorded, studied, and analyzed. Accordingly, Relational
Competence Theory (RCT) complements theories that treat individuals' personality and functioning individually by placing the individual into full family and social context. The ambitious volume
Relational Competence Theory: Research and Mental Health Applications opens out the RCT literature with emphasis on its applicability to interventions, and updates the state of research on RCT,
examining what is robust and verifiable both in the lab and the clinic.
Relational Competence Theory both challenges and confirms much of what we know about the range of human relationships, and is important reading for researchers, scholars, and students in
personality and social psychology, psychotherapy, and couple and family counseling.
