Three studies examine people's willingness to rely on others for emotional support. We propose that emotional reliance (ER) is typically beneficial to well-being. However, due to differing socialization and norms, ER is also expected to differ across gender and cultures. Further, following a self-determination theory perspective, we hypothesize that ER is facilitated by social partners who support one's psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Results from the studies supported the view that ER is generally associated with greater well-being and that it varies significantly across different relationships, cultural groups, and gender. Within-person variations in ER were systematically related to levels of need satisfaction within specific relationships, over and above betweenperson differences. The discussion focuses on the adaptive value and dynamics of ER. ER and Social SupportSocial support is a broad concept that refers to the help and care that others can provide and the effects of that care on coping, health, and psychological well-being. Social support can be manifest in many forms, such as providing information, instrumental help, or Correspondence should be addressed to Richard M. Ryan,

We report two studies investigating the psychometric properties and construct validity of the Quality of Relationships Inventory (QRI), a self-report measure of support, conflict, and depth in specific family and peer relationships. Study 1 showed that the QRI scales possess high internal consistency, are stable across a period of 1 year, show moderate agreement between participants' perceptions of the same relationship, and predict depressive symptoms beyond the contribution made by measures of general perceived support. In Study 2, adult children's and their mothers' QRI scales assessing the quality of their relationship with one another, but not with other family members or friends, predicted observers' global judgements of their behavior as they discussed a current source of conflict in their relationship. These studies suggest the reliability and construct validity of the QRI scales as measures of the quality of specific relationships. The implications of these results for the conceptualization and assessment of personal relationships are discussed.