Love and affectionate touch toward romantic partners all over the world
Abstract Touch is the primary way people communicate intimacy in romantic relationships, and affectionate touch behaviors such as stroking, hugging and kissing are universally observed in partnerships all over the world. Here, we explored the association of love and affectionate touch behaviors in r...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Portfolio
2023-04-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-31502-1 |
| _version_ | 1827970579056033792 |
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| author | Agnieszka Sorokowska Marta Kowal Supreet Saluja Toivo Aavik Charlotte Alm Afifa Anjum Kelly Asao Carlota Batres Aicha Bensafia Boris Bizumic Mahmoud Boussena David M. Buss Marina Butovskaya Seda Can Antonin Carrier Hakan Cetinkaya Daniel Conroy-Beam Rosa María Cueto Marcin Czub Seda Dural Agustín Espinosa Carla Sofia Esteves Tomasz Frackowiak Jorge Contreras-Garduño Farida Guemaz Ivana Hromatko Herak Iskra Feng Jiang Konstantinos Kafetsios Tina Kavcic Nicolas Kervyn Nils C. Köbis Aleksandra Kostić András Láng Torun Lindholm Zoi Manesi Norbert Meskó Girishwar Misra Conal Monaghan Jean Carlos Natividade George Nizharadze Elisabeth Oberzaucher Anna Oleszkiewicz Ariela Francesca Pagani Vilmante Pakalniskiene Miriam Parise Marija Pejičić Annette Pisanski Kasia Pisanski Camelia Popa Pavol Prokop Ruta Sargautyte Shivantika Sharad Franco Simonetti Piotr Sorokowski Michal Mikolaj Stefanczyk Anna Szagdaj Meri Tadinac Karina Ugalde González Olga Uhryn Christin-Melanie Vauclair Gyesook Yoo Maja Zupančič Ilona Croy |
| author_facet | Agnieszka Sorokowska Marta Kowal Supreet Saluja Toivo Aavik Charlotte Alm Afifa Anjum Kelly Asao Carlota Batres Aicha Bensafia Boris Bizumic Mahmoud Boussena David M. Buss Marina Butovskaya Seda Can Antonin Carrier Hakan Cetinkaya Daniel Conroy-Beam Rosa María Cueto Marcin Czub Seda Dural Agustín Espinosa Carla Sofia Esteves Tomasz Frackowiak Jorge Contreras-Garduño Farida Guemaz Ivana Hromatko Herak Iskra Feng Jiang Konstantinos Kafetsios Tina Kavcic Nicolas Kervyn Nils C. Köbis Aleksandra Kostić András Láng Torun Lindholm Zoi Manesi Norbert Meskó Girishwar Misra Conal Monaghan Jean Carlos Natividade George Nizharadze Elisabeth Oberzaucher Anna Oleszkiewicz Ariela Francesca Pagani Vilmante Pakalniskiene Miriam Parise Marija Pejičić Annette Pisanski Kasia Pisanski Camelia Popa Pavol Prokop Ruta Sargautyte Shivantika Sharad Franco Simonetti Piotr Sorokowski Michal Mikolaj Stefanczyk Anna Szagdaj Meri Tadinac Karina Ugalde González Olga Uhryn Christin-Melanie Vauclair Gyesook Yoo Maja Zupančič Ilona Croy |
| author_sort | Agnieszka Sorokowska |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Touch is the primary way people communicate intimacy in romantic relationships, and affectionate touch behaviors such as stroking, hugging and kissing are universally observed in partnerships all over the world. Here, we explored the association of love and affectionate touch behaviors in romantic partnerships in two studies comprising 7880 participants. In the first study, we used a cross-cultural survey conducted in 37 countries to test whether love was universally associated with affectionate touch behaviors. In the second study, using a more fine-tuned touch behavior scale, we tested whether the frequency of affectionate touch behaviors was related to love in romantic partnerships. As hypothesized, love was significantly and positively associated with affectionate touch behaviors in both studies and this result was replicated regardless of the inclusion of potentially relevant factors as controls. Altogether, our data strongly suggest that affectionate touch is a relatively stable characteristic of human romantic relationships that is robustly and reliably related to the degree of reported love between partners. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T18:55:59Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6e29f4441fd34590a8f74a433aa83fa2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T18:55:59Z |
| publishDate | 2023-04-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-6e29f4441fd34590a8f74a433aa83fa22023-04-09T11:12:31ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222023-04-0113111310.1038/s41598-023-31502-1Love and affectionate touch toward romantic partners all over the worldAgnieszka Sorokowska0Marta Kowal1Supreet Saluja2Toivo Aavik3Charlotte Alm4Afifa Anjum5Kelly Asao6Carlota Batres7Aicha Bensafia8Boris Bizumic9Mahmoud Boussena10David M. Buss11Marina Butovskaya12Seda Can13Antonin Carrier14Hakan Cetinkaya15Daniel Conroy-Beam16Rosa María Cueto17Marcin Czub18Seda Dural19Agustín Espinosa20Carla Sofia Esteves21Tomasz Frackowiak22Jorge Contreras-Garduño23Farida Guemaz24Ivana Hromatko25Herak Iskra26Feng Jiang27Konstantinos Kafetsios28Tina Kavcic29Nicolas Kervyn30Nils C. Köbis31Aleksandra Kostić32András Láng33Torun Lindholm34Zoi Manesi35Norbert Meskó36Girishwar Misra37Conal Monaghan38Jean Carlos Natividade39George Nizharadze40Elisabeth Oberzaucher41Anna Oleszkiewicz42Ariela Francesca Pagani43Vilmante Pakalniskiene44Miriam Parise45Marija Pejičić46Annette Pisanski47Kasia Pisanski48Camelia Popa49Pavol Prokop50Ruta Sargautyte51Shivantika Sharad52Franco Simonetti53Piotr Sorokowski54Michal Mikolaj Stefanczyk55Anna Szagdaj56Meri Tadinac57Karina Ugalde González58Olga Uhryn59Christin-Melanie Vauclair60Gyesook Yoo61Maja Zupančič62Ilona Croy63Institute of Psychology, University of WroclawIDN Being Human Lab, University of WrocławMacquarie UniversityUniversity of TartuStockholm UniversityUniversity of the PunjabWestminster CollegeFranklin and Marshall CollegeUniversity of AlgiersAustralian National UniversityUniversity Setif2University of Texas at AustinRussian Academy of SciencesIzmir University of EconomicsUniversité catholique de LouvainYasar UniversityUniversity of California, Santa BarbaraPontificia Universidad Católica del PerúInstitute of Psychology, University of WroclawIzmir University of EconomicsPontificia Universidad Católica del PerúUniversidade Católica PortuguesaInstitute of Psychology, University of WroclawEscuela Nacional de Estudios Superiores, UNAMUniversity Setif2University of ZagrebUniversité catholique de LouvainUniversity of GreenwichDepartment of Psychology, University of CreteUniversity of LjubljanaUniversité catholique de LouvainMax Planck Institute for Human DevelopmentUniversity of NišUniversity of PécsStockholm UniversityVrije Universiteit AmsterdamUniversity of PécsUniversity of DelhiAustralian National UniversityPontifical Catholic University of Rio de JaneiroFree University of TbilisiUniversity of ViennaInstitute of Psychology, University of WroclawUniversity of UrbinoVilnius UniversityUniversità Cattolica del Sacro CuoreUniversity of NišUniversity of AlbertaInstitute of Psychology, University of WroclawRomanian AcademyComenius UniversityVilnius UniversityUniversity of DelhiUniversidad Catolica de ChileInstitute of Psychology, University of WroclawInstitute of Psychology, University of WroclawWroclaw University of Science and TechnologyUniversity of ZagrebUniversidad Latina de Costa RicaLviv State University of Internal AffairsInstituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL)Kyung Hee UniversityUniversity of LjubljanaInstitute of Psychology, University of JenaAbstract Touch is the primary way people communicate intimacy in romantic relationships, and affectionate touch behaviors such as stroking, hugging and kissing are universally observed in partnerships all over the world. Here, we explored the association of love and affectionate touch behaviors in romantic partnerships in two studies comprising 7880 participants. In the first study, we used a cross-cultural survey conducted in 37 countries to test whether love was universally associated with affectionate touch behaviors. In the second study, using a more fine-tuned touch behavior scale, we tested whether the frequency of affectionate touch behaviors was related to love in romantic partnerships. As hypothesized, love was significantly and positively associated with affectionate touch behaviors in both studies and this result was replicated regardless of the inclusion of potentially relevant factors as controls. Altogether, our data strongly suggest that affectionate touch is a relatively stable characteristic of human romantic relationships that is robustly and reliably related to the degree of reported love between partners.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-31502-1 |
| spellingShingle | Agnieszka Sorokowska Marta Kowal Supreet Saluja Toivo Aavik Charlotte Alm Afifa Anjum Kelly Asao Carlota Batres Aicha Bensafia Boris Bizumic Mahmoud Boussena David M. Buss Marina Butovskaya Seda Can Antonin Carrier Hakan Cetinkaya Daniel Conroy-Beam Rosa María Cueto Marcin Czub Seda Dural Agustín Espinosa Carla Sofia Esteves Tomasz Frackowiak Jorge Contreras-Garduño Farida Guemaz Ivana Hromatko Herak Iskra Feng Jiang Konstantinos Kafetsios Tina Kavcic Nicolas Kervyn Nils C. Köbis Aleksandra Kostić András Láng Torun Lindholm Zoi Manesi Norbert Meskó Girishwar Misra Conal Monaghan Jean Carlos Natividade George Nizharadze Elisabeth Oberzaucher Anna Oleszkiewicz Ariela Francesca Pagani Vilmante Pakalniskiene Miriam Parise Marija Pejičić Annette Pisanski Kasia Pisanski Camelia Popa Pavol Prokop Ruta Sargautyte Shivantika Sharad Franco Simonetti Piotr Sorokowski Michal Mikolaj Stefanczyk Anna Szagdaj Meri Tadinac Karina Ugalde González Olga Uhryn Christin-Melanie Vauclair Gyesook Yoo Maja Zupančič Ilona Croy Love and affectionate touch toward romantic partners all over the world Scientific Reports |
| title | Love and affectionate touch toward romantic partners all over the world |
| title_full | Love and affectionate touch toward romantic partners all over the world |
| title_fullStr | Love and affectionate touch toward romantic partners all over the world |
| title_full_unstemmed | Love and affectionate touch toward romantic partners all over the world |
| title_short | Love and affectionate touch toward romantic partners all over the world |
| title_sort | love and affectionate touch toward romantic partners all over the world |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-31502-1 |
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