1
|
Mello M, Fusaro M, Aglioti SM, Minio-Paluello I. Exploring social touch in autistic and non-autistic adults via a self-report body-painting task: The role of sex, social context and body area. AUTISM : THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND PRACTICE 2024:13623613231218314. [PMID: 38179707 DOI: 10.1177/13623613231218314] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/06/2024]
Abstract
LAY ABSTRACT What is already known about the topic?At least in neurotypical individuals, social touch represents an important channel for emotional communication associated with social bonding and pain/anxiety modulation. Autistic adults report to avoid social touch more and to have different tactile sensitivity than their non-autistic comparisons.What this paper adds?Few studies specifically investigated social touch in autistic individuals, and none of them examined the role of participants' sex, social context in which social touch occurs, and specific body areas being touched. In our study, adult participants reported how pleasant, erogenous and appropriate they would consider touches delivered by another person over their entire body in intimate (date), friendly (dance class) and professional (physiotherapy-massage session) social contexts. Autistic adults reported social touch to be less pleasant, erogenous and appropriate specifically in intimate and friendly social contexts and in body areas typically touched in these situations. Importantly, autistic females seem more at risk to experience unpleasant social touch as, although they considered it more unpleasant than non-autistic females and autistic males, they did consider it similarly appropriate in professional social contexts where touch is normed to be socially appropriate.Implications for practice, research or policyOur results might improve awareness and understanding about autistic adults' different, and often more discomforting, experience of social touch and thus help consider and respect it during everyday social interactions. Our results might also benefit future research investigating, for instance, the neural underpinnings of social touch differences in autism or aiming at developing support for autistic individuals seeking help in the diverse spheres of social touch.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Manuel Mello
- Sapienza University of Rome, and Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Rome, Italy
- Santa Lucia Foundation IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | | | - Salvatore Maria Aglioti
- Sapienza University of Rome, and Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Rome, Italy
- Santa Lucia Foundation IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - Ilaria Minio-Paluello
- National Research Council, Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, Rome, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Schirmer A, Cham C, Zhao Z, Lai O, Lo C, Croy I. Understanding sex differences in affective touch: Sensory pleasantness, social comfort, and precursive experiences. Physiol Behav 2022; 250:113797. [PMID: 35367508 DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2022.113797] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2022] [Revised: 03/17/2022] [Accepted: 03/28/2022] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
Although previous research revealed sex differences in affective touch, the implicated processes and the manner in which men and women differ have been left uncertain. Here we addressed this issue in two studies examining sensory pleasure, interpersonal comfort, and touch motivators. Study 1 comprised a series of lab-based experiments in which a robot stroked 214 participants (half female) at five different velocities modulating the activity of C-tactile afferents thought to support tactile pleasantness. Average pleasantness ratings followed velocity with the typical inverted u-shape similarly in both sexes. In Study 2, 260 participants (half female) completed an online survey. Here, women were more likely than men to express touch comfort with less familiar or unknown individuals, had a greater preference for touch with other women, and felt more comfortable giving and receiving touch to the forearm. Additionally, when describing how their own experiences might motivate others to touch them affectively, women produced more negative descriptions than men. Together, these results show that, while the sexes compare in a touch's sensory pleasantness, they differ in their preceding affective experiences and how they value touch at a higher-order social level. This agrees with extant research on negative affect and stress and suggests that affective touch may be a more relevant coping mechanism for women than for men.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Annett Schirmer
- Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
| | - Clare Cham
- Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Zihao Zhao
- Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
| | - Oscar Lai
- Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Clive Lo
- Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Ilona Croy
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Sakurai S, Goto T, Nojima T, Hirota K. Effect of the Opponent’s Appearance on Interpersonal Cognition that Affects User-to-User Relationship in Virtual Whole-Body Interaction. JOURNAL OF ROBOTICS AND MECHATRONICS 2021. [DOI: 10.20965/jrm.2021.p1029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
People infer the internal characteristics (attitude, intent, thoughts, ability, relationship, etc.) of others (interpersonal cognition, IC) from the impressions they form from the personality or attributes of those others (impression formation). Studies premised on interpersonal communication in a seated condition have confirmed that, regardless of whether the communication is in the real world or in a media environment, the appearance of the other person affects IC and the outcome of the communication. People also develop relationships based on impressions or images of the other party. The psychological relationship manifests in physical relationships, that is, the relative positions of the body or the movement. In this study, we evaluate the effects of the appearance of the opponent’s avatar on the players’ IC in whole-body interaction taking place in a virtual reality (VR) space. Moreover, we examine the feasibility of constructing a method of changing the players’ relationship in interpersonal interactions that accompany the control and interference of the entire body, “whole-body interaction,” by manipulating their appearances. In this study, we selected the party game Twister as a case model of whole-body interaction and developed a system that allows users to play Twister in VR space. Using this system environment, we conducted an experiment to evaluate the players’ IC based on the gender and realism of the opponent’s avatar. The results showed that differences in the appearance of the opponent’s avatar affected the IC of male players. We also indicated that changes in IC observed in the experiment can affect the players’ relationship, thus identifying issues that must be resolved in order to realize the method.
Collapse
|
4
|
Saarinen A, Harjunen V, Jasinskaja-Lahti I, Jääskeläinen IP, Ravaja N. Social touch experience in different contexts: A review. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 131:360-372. [PMID: 34537266 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.09.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2021] [Revised: 08/05/2021] [Accepted: 09/13/2021] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
Social touch is increasingly utilized in a variety of psychological interventions, ranging from parent-child interventions to psychotherapeutic treatments. Less attention has been paid, however, to findings that exposure to social touch may not necessarily evoke positive or pleasant responses. Social touch can convey different emotions from love and gratitude to harassment and envy, and persons' preferences to touch and be touched do not necessarily match with each other. This review of altogether 99 original studies focuses on how contextual factors modify target person's behavioral and brain responses to social touch. The review shows that experience of social touch is strongly modified by a variety of toucher-related and situational factors: for example, toucher's facial expressions, physical attractiveness, relationship status, group membership, and touched person's psychological distress. At the neural level, contextual factors modify processing of social touch from early perceptual processing to reflective cognitive evaluation. Based on the review, we present implications for using social touch in behavioral and neuroscientific research designs.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Aino Saarinen
- Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland.
| | - Ville Harjunen
- Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Inga Jasinskaja-Lahti
- Department of Social Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Iiro P Jääskeläinen
- Brain and Mind Laboratory, Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Aalto University School of Science, Espoo, Finland; International Laboratory of Social Neurobiology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russian Federation
| | - Niklas Ravaja
- Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Conveying Emotions by Touch to the Nao Robot: A User Experience Perspective. MULTIMODAL TECHNOLOGIES AND INTERACTION 2018. [DOI: 10.3390/mti2040082] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Social robots are expected gradually to be used by more and more people in a wider range of settings, domestic as well as professional. As a consequence, the features and quality requirements on human–robot interaction will increase, comprising possibilities to communicate emotions, establishing a positive user experience, e.g., using touch. In this paper, the focus is on depicting how humans, as the users of robots, experience tactile emotional communication with the Nao Robot, as well as identifying aspects affecting the experience and touch behavior. A qualitative investigation was conducted as part of a larger experiment. The major findings consist of 15 different aspects that vary along one or more dimensions and how those influence the four dimensions of user experience that are present in the study, as well as the different parts of touch behavior of conveying emotions.
Collapse
|
6
|
Ocklenburg S, Packheiser J, Schmitz J, Rook N, Güntürkün O, Peterburs J, Grimshaw GM. Hugs and kisses - The role of motor preferences and emotional lateralization for hemispheric asymmetries in human social touch. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2018; 95:353-360. [PMID: 30339836 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2018.10.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2018] [Revised: 08/27/2018] [Accepted: 10/15/2018] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Social touch is an important aspect of human social interaction - across all cultures, humans engage in kissing, cradling and embracing. These behaviors are necessarily asymmetric, but the factors that determine their lateralization are not well-understood. Because the hands are often involved in social touch, motor preferences may give rise to asymmetric behavior. However, social touch often occurs in emotional contexts, suggesting that biases might be modulated by asymmetries in emotional processing. Social touch may therefore provide unique insights into lateralized brain networks that link emotion and action. Here, we review the literature on lateralization of cradling, kissing and embracing with respect to motor and emotive bias theories. Lateral biases in all three forms of social touch are influenced, but not fully determined by handedness. Thus, motor bias theory partly explains side biases in social touch. However, emotional context also affects side biases, most strongly for embracing. Taken together, literature analysis reveals that side biases in social touch are most likely determined by a combination of motor and emotive biases.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian Ocklenburg
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Biopsychology, Department of Psychology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany.
| | - Julian Packheiser
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Biopsychology, Department of Psychology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany
| | - Judith Schmitz
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Biopsychology, Department of Psychology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany
| | - Noemi Rook
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Biopsychology, Department of Psychology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany
| | - Onur Güntürkün
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Biopsychology, Department of Psychology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany
| | - Jutta Peterburs
- Biological Psychology, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Gina M Grimshaw
- Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Lab, School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Trotter PD, McGlone F, Reniers RLEP, Deakin JFW. Construction and Validation of the Touch Experiences and Attitudes Questionnaire (TEAQ): A Self-report Measure to Determine Attitudes Toward and Experiences of Positive Touch. JOURNAL OF NONVERBAL BEHAVIOR 2018; 42:379-416. [PMID: 30416240 PMCID: PMC6208655 DOI: 10.1007/s10919-018-0281-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
Despite growing interest in the beneficial effects of positive touch experiences throughout our lives, and individual differences in how these experiences are perceived, there is not yet available a contemporary self-report measure of touch experiences and attitudes, for which the factor structure has been validated. This article describes four studies carried out during the construction and validation of the Touch Experiences and Attitudes Questionnaire (TEAQ). The original TEAQ, containing 117 items relating to positive touch experiences was systematically constructed. Principal component analysis reduced this measure to 57 items and identified six components relating to touch experiences during childhood and adult experiences relating to current intimate touch and touch with friends and family. Three attitudinal components were identified relating to attitude to intimate touch, touch with unfamiliar people, and self-care. The structure of this questionnaire was confirmed through confirmatory factor analysis carried out on data obtained from a second sample. Good concurrent and predictive validity of the TEAQ compared to other physical touch measures currently available was identified. Known-group validity in terms of gender, marital status and age was determined, with expected group differences identified. This study demonstrates the TEAQ to have good face validity, internal consistency, construct validity in terms of discriminant validity, known-group validity and convergent validity, and criterion-related validity in terms of predictive validity and concurrent validity. We anticipate this questionnaire will be a valuable tool for the field of physical touch research.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- P D Trotter
- 1Department of Natural Sciences and Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool, UK.,2Department of Psychology, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK
| | - F McGlone
- 1Department of Natural Sciences and Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool, UK.,3Institute of Psychology, Health and Society, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
| | - R L E P Reniers
- 4Institute of Clinical Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.,5Institute for Mental Health, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| | - J F W Deakin
- 6Neuroscience and Psychiatry Unit, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Cascio CJ, Moore D, McGlone F. Social touch and human development. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2018; 35:5-11. [PMID: 29731417 PMCID: PMC6968965 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2018.04.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 185] [Impact Index Per Article: 30.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2017] [Revised: 03/07/2018] [Accepted: 04/03/2018] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Social touch is a powerful force in human development, shaping social reward, attachment, cognitive, communication, and emotional regulation from infancy and throughout life. In this review, we consider the question of how social touch is defined from both bottom-up and top-down perspectives. In the former category, there is a clear role for the C-touch (CT) system, which constitutes a unique submodality that mediates affective touch and contrasts with discriminative touch. Top-down factors such as culture, personal relationships, setting, gender, and other contextual influences are also important in defining and interpreting social touch. The critical role of social touch throughout the lifespan is considered, with special attention to infancy and young childhood, a time during which social touch and its neural, behavioral, and physiological contingencies contribute to reinforcement-based learning and impact a variety of developmental trajectories. Finally, the role of social touch in an example of disordered development –autism spectrum disorder—is reviewed.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Carissa J Cascio
- Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Nashville, TN, USA; Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Human Development, Nashville, TN, USA.
| | - David Moore
- Liverpool John Moores University, School of Natural Sciences and Psychology, Liverpool, UK
| | - Francis McGlone
- Liverpool John Moores University, School of Natural Sciences and Psychology, Liverpool, UK; University of Liverpool, Institute of Psychology Health & Society, Liverpool, UK
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Boratav HB. I. Personal is Political: Social Psychology of Power and Empowering Possibilities. FEMINISM & PSYCHOLOGY 2016. [DOI: 10.1177/0959353502012003002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
|
10
|
|
11
|
|
12
|
Herek GM. Sexual Stigma and Sexual Prejudice in the United States: A Conceptual Framework. NEBRASKA SYMPOSIUM ON MOTIVATION 2009; 54:65-111. [DOI: 10.1007/978-0-387-09556-1_4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 202] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/05/2022]
|
13
|
Dorros S, Hanzal A, Segrin C. The Big Five personality traits and perceptions of touch to intimate and nonintimate body regions. JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN PERSONALITY 2008. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jrp.2007.11.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
|
14
|
Hertenstein MJ, Verkamp JM, Kerestes AM, Holmes RM. The communicative functions of touch in humans, nonhuman primates, and rats: a review and synthesis of the empirical research. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2007; 132:5-94. [PMID: 17345871 DOI: 10.3200/mono.132.1.5-94] [Citation(s) in RCA: 163] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Although touch is one of the most neglected modalities of communication, several lines of research bear on the important communicative functions served by the modality. The authors highlighted the importance of touch by reviewing and synthesizing the literatures pertaining to the communicative functions served by touch among humans, nonhuman primates, and rats. In humans, the authors focused on the role that touch plays in emotional communication, attachment, bonding, compliance, power, intimacy, hedonics, and liking. In nonhuman primates, the authors examined the relations among touch and status, stress, reconciliation, sexual relations, and attachment. In rats, the authors focused on the role that touch plays in emotion, learning and memory, novelty seeking, stress, and attachment. The authors also highlighted the potential phylogenetic and ontogenetic continuities and discussed suggestions for future research.
Collapse
|
15
|
DiBiase R, Gunnoe J. Gender and Culture Differences in Touching Behavior. The Journal of Social Psychology 2004; 144:49-62. [PMID: 14760964 DOI: 10.3200/socp.144.1.49-62] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
The authors used gender and culture to examine the theory that touching behavior is an expression of dominance. Participants were 120 men and women from Italy, the Czech Republic, and the United States. The authors examined both hand touches and nonhand touches. For hand touches, there was a significant gender-by-culture interaction in that Czech men as a group touched more than any of the other groups. For nonhand touches, Czech and Italian women and Italian men as groups touched significantly more than any of the other groups. Taken in cultural context, these results seem to support the dominance theory for touches with the hand but not for nonhand touches. The authors discussed implications and future directions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Rosemarie DiBiase
- Education and Human Services Department, Suffolk University, Boston, MA 02114-4280, USA.
| | | |
Collapse
|
16
|
|
17
|
Floyd K. Affectionate same-sex touch: the influence of homophobia on observers' perceptions. THE JOURNAL OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2000; 140:774-88. [PMID: 11195727 DOI: 10.1080/00224540009600516] [Citation(s) in RCA: 78] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
The author extended the proposition (V. J. Derlega, R. J. Lewis, S. Harrison, B. A. Winstead, & R. Costanza, 1989) that the fear of being seen as homosexual accounts for the common finding that U.S. women engage in more same-sex touch than do U.S. men. The author proposed a theoretic model positing that the magnitude of homophobia's influence on behavior and on reactions to behavior is proportional to the likelihood that the behavior is sexual in nature. An experiment involving reactions to same-sex embraces demonstrated that, although homophobia was negatively related to evaluations of same-sex affectionate touch, the magnitude of the relationship covaried with the probability that the touch was sexual. The implications of these findings for longer range theory development are discussed.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- K Floyd
- Department of Communication, Cleveland State University, USA
| |
Collapse
|
18
|
Chapell MS, Beltran W, Santanello M, Takahashi M, Bantom SR, Donovan JS, Hernandez SC, Oculato TM, Ray NM. Men and women holding hands: II. Whose hand is uppermost? Percept Mot Skills 1999; 89:537-49. [PMID: 10597590 DOI: 10.2466/pms.1999.89.2.537] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Sex differences in the way men and women hold hands were investigated in a series of six studies. Specifically, it was hypothesized that men would have the uppermost hand in male-female couples holding hands in public significantly more often than women. Also, the American couples observed in Study 1 were classified by height, those in Study 2 by age, those in Study 3 by hand preference, those in Study 4 by ethnic group, and those in Study 6 by sex of initiator of the handholding; the handholding couples in Study 5 were Japanese adults. A combined total of 15,008 handholding couples were observed in these six studies, and across differences in height, age, hand preference, ethnicity, culture, and sex of the initiator of handholding in public, men were significantly more likely than women to have the uppermost hand.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- M S Chapell
- Department of Psychology, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ 08028, USA.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
19
|
Regan PC, Jerry D, Narvaez M, Johnson D. Public displays of affection among Asian and Latino heterosexual couples. Psychol Rep 1999; 84:1201-2. [PMID: 10477939 DOI: 10.2466/pr0.1999.84.3c.1201] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
The present study used naturalistic observation to investigate whether public touching behavior differs as a function of the interactants' race or ethnicity. Heterosexual dyads (22 Asian, 22 Latino; average age = 24 years) were observed while walking through the campus of a large western university. Some support was found for the notion that interactants from "contact" cultures, e.g., Latin America, are more contact-prone than those from "noncontact" cultures, e.g., Asia. Specifically, Latino male-female dyads were more likely to embrace while walking in public than Asian male-female dyads.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- P C Regan
- Department of Psychology, California State University-Los Angeles 90032-8227, USA.
| | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
20
|
|
21
|
Abstract
Gender asymmetry in touch in U.S. populations is related to the age of the participants in some studies and to the relationships between the participants in others. In the present study, researchers observed dyads in public settings in the United States frequented by couples and recorded the occurrence of touch, the touch initiator, and the body areas touched. The researchers then approached the couples and asked them to complete questionnaires indicating their ages, their relationship, and their level of agreement on major issues. Age and relationship were predictive of the gender of touch initiators. Although levels of agreement were less predictive of touch initiation, the women indicated higher levels of agreement than the men did. The results were generally consistent with a model of sex differences in reproductive strategies.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- F N Willis
- Department of Psychology, University of Missouri at Kansas City 64110-2499, USA
| | | |
Collapse
|
22
|
Sexual and institutional issues when one spouse resides in the community and the other lives in a nursing home. SEXUALITY AND DISABILITY 1996. [DOI: 10.1007/bf02590100] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
|
23
|
|
24
|
Pearce CM, Martin G, Wood K. Significance of touch for perceptions of parenting and psychological adjustment among adolescents. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 1995; 34:160-7. [PMID: 7896649 DOI: 10.1097/00004583-199502000-00011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE This pilot study set out to investigate whether a relationship exists between differential quality and quantity of physical contact experience and perceptions of parenting, psychological adjustment, and suicidal behavior among adolescents. METHOD A self-report questionnaire assessed individuals' perceptions of how frequently they experienced pleasant (positive) and unpleasant (negative) touch from family and friends. Together with the Achenbach Youth Self-Report and the Parental Bonding Instrument, this questionnaire was administered to 142 male and 129 female students aged between 13 and 15 years (mean = 13.54, SD = 0.56) attending a randomly chosen metropolitan state high school and a coeducational private school. RESULTS The major findings indicated that differential quality and quantity of physical contact experience was related to perceptions of parenting, psychological adjustment, and suicidal behavior, although a gender difference was observed. CONCLUSIONS The findings suggest that physical contact experiences may reflect different parenting styles and may be a vulnerability factor for a range of difficulties among adolescents.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- C M Pearce
- Southern Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), Flinders Medical Centre, South Australia
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
25
|
|
26
|
|