Based on twenty-five years of research on friendship, Dr. Rubin uses case studies to highlight normal social development, potential problems and real distress, focusing on how to distinguish between a well-adjusted solitary child and a lonely child; how to distinguish between popularity as likebility and popularity as dominance; how to respect your child's social style, particularly if it differs from your own; how to help an angry child be less aggressive; how to increase a child's social life, among other matters of friendship.