Meliksah Demir, PhD
BA Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey, 2002
MA Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, 2004
PhD Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, 2007
Professional interests
Dr. Demir’s main research focuses on the relationship between friendship quality and happiness in different age groups (e.g., emerging adults). His research aims to understand why and how friendship experiences are related to happiness. His other research interests include identity formation, personality, attachment, romantic relationships, perceived mattering, friendship motivation, need satisfaction in close relationships, and volunteer bias. His recent work focuses on perceived friendship uniqueness.
Recent publications
Books:
Demir, M., & Sumer, N. (forthcoming). Close relationships and happiness across cultures. Dordrecht: Springer.
Demir, M. (2015). Friendship and happiness: Across the life-span and cultures. Dordrecht: Springer.
Doğan, A., Vural, D., & Demir, M. (in press). The transition to adulthood in Turkey: Views from college students and working individuals. In Zukauskiene, R. (ed.), Emerging Adults in Europe. Routledge Psychology Press.
Demir, M., Haynes, A., & Potts, S. (in press). My friends are my estate: Friendship experiences mediate the relationship between perceived responses to capitalization attempts and happiness. Journal of Happiness Studies.
Demir, M., Haynes, A., Orthel-Clark, H., & Ozen, A. (in press). Volunteer bias in research on friendship among emerging adults. Emerging Adulthood.
Demir, M., Özen, A, & Procsal, A. (2014). Friendship and happiness. In A. Michalos (ed.), Encyclopedia of Quality of Life Research (pp. 2359-2364). Springer.
Şimşek, Ö. F., Koydemir, S., & Demir, M. (2014). From personality to happiness within a positive psychology framework: Sense of uniqueness as a mediator.Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 54, 314-335.
Şimşek, Ö. F., & Demir, M. (2014). A cross-cultural investigation into the relationships among parental support for basic psychological needs, sense of uniqueness and happiness. Journal of Psychology, 148, 387-411.
Demir, M., & Davidson, I. (2013). Toward a better understanding of the relationship between friendship and happiness: Perceived responses to capitalization attempts, feelings of mattering, and satisfaction of basic psychological needs in same-sex best friendships as predictors of happiness. Journal of Happiness Studies, 14, 525-550.
Demir, M., Doğan, A., & Procsal, A. (2013). I am so happy ‘cause my friend is happy for me: Capitalization, friendship, and happiness among U.S. and Turkish college students. Journal of Social Psychology, 153, 250-255.
Courses
Dr. Demir teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in developmental psychology. He also teaches courses on cross-cultural psychology and close relationships.