Emotional availability (EA) is the scientific term for communication that involves sensitivity, structuring, nonintrusiveness, nonhostility, responsiveness, and involvement. Each of these "ingredients" is defined in the book, and together they depict healthy emotional relationships. For the most part, the scientific work has been conducted on parent-child relationships, and this book describes how to assess emotional availability in parent-child relationships. The book also goes further than that to applying these six principles to other relationships, including therapist-client relationships, equal partner relationships (including peer-peer, teen-teen, adult-adult, and so on) and relationships that leaders have with those they serve (including leaders who work with or who have a 'say so' about relationships and how they can progress.