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Affective interpersonal touch in close relationships: a cross-cultural perspective

Affective interpersonal touch in close relationships: a cross-cultural perspective

Sorokowska, Agnieszka ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3999-8851, Saluja, Supreet, Sorokowski, Piotr, Frąckowiak, Tomasz, Karwowski, Maciej, Aavik, Toivo, Akello, Grace, Alm, Charlotte, Amjad, Naumana, Anjum, Afifa, Asao, Kelly, Atama, Chiemezie S., Atamtürk Duyar, Derya, Ayebare, Richard, Batres, Carlota ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3833-7667, Bendixen, Mons, Bensafia, Aicha, Bizumic, Boris, Boussena, Mahmoud, Buss, David M., Butovskaya, Marina, Can, Seda, Cantarero, Katarzyna, Carrier, Antonin, Cetinkaya, Hakan, Chabin, Dominika, Conroy-Beam, Daniel, Contreras-Graduño, Jorge, Varella, Marco Antonio Correa, Cueto, Rosa María, Czub, Marcin, Dronova, Daria, Dural, Seda, Duyar, Izzet, Ertugrul, Berna, Espinosa, Agustín, Esteves, Carla Sofia, Guemaz, Farida, Haľamová, Mária, Herak, Iskra, Hromatko, Ivana, Hui, Chin-Ming ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8265-8353, Jaafar, Jas Laile, Jiang, Feng ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9762-5821, Kafetsios, Konstantinos, Kavcic, Tina, Kennair, Leif Edward Ottesen, Kervyn, Nicolas O., Khilji, Imran Ahmed, Köbis, Nils C., Kostic, Aleksandra, Láng, András, Lennard, Georgina R., León, Ernesto, Lindholm, Torun, Lopez, Giulia, Manesi, Zoi, Martinez, Rocio, McKerchar, Sarah L., Meskó, Norbert, Misra, Girishwar, Monaghan, Conal, Mora, Emanuel C., Moya-Garofano, Alba, Musil, Bojan, Natividade, Jean Carlos, Nizharadze, George, Oberzaucher, Elisabeth, Oleszkiewicz, Anna, Onyishi, Ike Ernest, Özener, Baris, Pagani, Ariela Francesca ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7149-9350, Pakalniskiene, Vilmante, Parise, Miriam, Pazhoohi, Farid ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9184-5361, Pejičić, Marija ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2993-7940, Pisanski, Annette, Pisanski, Katarzyna, Plohl, Nejc, Popa, Camelia, Prokop, Pavol, Rizwan, Muhammad, Sainz, Mario, Salkičević, Svjetlana, Sargautyte, Ruta, Sarmany-Schuller, Ivan, Schmehl, Susanne, Shahid, Anam, Shaikh, Rizwana, Sharad, Shivantika, Siddiqui, Razi Sultan, Simonetti, Franco, Tadinac, Meri, Ugalde González, Karina ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2626-3947, Uhryn, Olga, Vauclair, Christin-Melanie, Vega Araya, Luis Diego, Widarini, Dwi Ajeng, Yoo, Gyesook, Zadeh, Zainab Fotowwat, Zaťková, Marta, Zupančič, Maja and Croy, Ilona (2021) Affective interpersonal touch in close relationships: a cross-cultural perspective. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 47 (12). pp. 1705-1721. ISSN 0146-1672 (Print), 1552-7433 (Online) (doi:10.1177/0146167220988373)

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Abstract

Interpersonal touch behavior differs across cultures, yet no study to date has systematically tested for cultural variation in affective touch, nor examined the factors that might account for this variability. Here, over 14,000 individuals from 45 countries were asked whether they embraced, stroked, kissed, or hugged their partner, friends, and youngest child during the week preceding the study. We then examined a range of hypothesized individual-level factors (sex, age, parasitic history, conservatism, religiosity, and preferred interpersonal distance) and cultural-level factors (regional temperature, parasite stress, regional conservatism, collectivism, and religiosity) in predicting these affective-touching behaviors. Our results indicate that affective touch was most prevalent in relationships with partners and children, and its diversity was relatively higher in warmer, less conservative, and religious countries, and among younger, female, and liberal people. This research allows for a broad and integrated view of the bases of cross-cultural variability in affective touch.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: touch behaviors; affective touch; interpersonal behaviors; cross-cultural psychology
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group: Faculty of Business
Faculty of Business > Department of Human Resources & Organisational Behaviour
Greenwich Business School > Centre for Research on Employment and Work (CREW)
Last Modified: 02 Dec 2024 15:46
URI: http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/35890

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