The major purpose of the Life Course Development (LCD) program is to expand our knowledge of social relationships across the lifespan and their implications for mental and physical health. We examine a wide variety of relationships including those with family, friends, spouse, parents, children and peripheral ties from middle childhood to the oldest –old.  We are interested in identifying the aspects of relationships (e.g., types of support, conflict, contact frequency) that are most beneficial and or harmful to health and whether these associations vary by key demographic and contextual factors such as marital status, gender, age, race, and education.