Scientific Reports (Apr 2023)
Love and affectionate touch toward romantic partners all over the world
- 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
Affiliations
- Agnieszka Sorokowska
- Institute of Psychology, University of Wroclaw
- Marta Kowal
- IDN Being Human Lab, University of Wrocław
- Supreet Saluja
- Macquarie University
- Toivo Aavik
- University of Tartu
- Charlotte Alm
- Stockholm University
- Afifa Anjum
- University of the Punjab
- Kelly Asao
- Westminster College
- Carlota Batres
- Franklin and Marshall College
- Aicha Bensafia
- University of Algiers
- Boris Bizumic
- Australian National University
- Mahmoud Boussena
- University Setif2
- David M. Buss
- University of Texas at Austin
- Marina Butovskaya
- Russian Academy of Sciences
- Seda Can
- Izmir University of Economics
- Antonin Carrier
- Université catholique de Louvain
- Hakan Cetinkaya
- Yasar University
- Daniel Conroy-Beam
- University of California, Santa Barbara
- Rosa María Cueto
- Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
- Marcin Czub
- Institute of Psychology, University of Wroclaw
- Seda Dural
- Izmir University of Economics
- Agustín Espinosa
- Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
- Carla Sofia Esteves
- Universidade Católica Portuguesa
- Tomasz Frackowiak
- Institute of Psychology, University of Wroclaw
- Jorge Contreras-Garduño
- Escuela Nacional de Estudios Superiores, UNAM
- Farida Guemaz
- University Setif2
- Ivana Hromatko
- University of Zagreb
- Herak Iskra
- Université catholique de Louvain
- Feng Jiang
- University of Greenwich
- Konstantinos Kafetsios
- Department of Psychology, University of Crete
- Tina Kavcic
- University of Ljubljana
- Nicolas Kervyn
- Université catholique de Louvain
- Nils C. Köbis
- Max Planck Institute for Human Development
- Aleksandra Kostić
- University of Niš
- András Láng
- University of Pécs
- Torun Lindholm
- Stockholm University
- Zoi Manesi
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
- Norbert Meskó
- University of Pécs
- Girishwar Misra
- University of Delhi
- Conal Monaghan
- Australian National University
- Jean Carlos Natividade
- Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro
- George Nizharadze
- Free University of Tbilisi
- Elisabeth Oberzaucher
- University of Vienna
- Anna Oleszkiewicz
- Institute of Psychology, University of Wroclaw
- Ariela Francesca Pagani
- University of Urbino
- Vilmante Pakalniskiene
- Vilnius University
- Miriam Parise
- Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
- Marija Pejičić
- University of Niš
- Annette Pisanski
- University of Alberta
- Kasia Pisanski
- Institute of Psychology, University of Wroclaw
- Camelia Popa
- Romanian Academy
- Pavol Prokop
- Comenius University
- Ruta Sargautyte
- Vilnius University
- Shivantika Sharad
- University of Delhi
- Franco Simonetti
- Universidad Catolica de Chile
- Piotr Sorokowski
- Institute of Psychology, University of Wroclaw
- Michal Mikolaj Stefanczyk
- Institute of Psychology, University of Wroclaw
- Anna Szagdaj
- Wroclaw University of Science and Technology
- Meri Tadinac
- University of Zagreb
- Karina Ugalde González
- Universidad Latina de Costa Rica
- Olga Uhryn
- Lviv State University of Internal Affairs
- Christin-Melanie Vauclair
- Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL)
- Gyesook Yoo
- Kyung Hee University
- Maja Zupančič
- University of Ljubljana
- Ilona Croy
- Institute of Psychology, University of Jena
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-31502-1
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 13,
no. 1
pp. 1 – 13
Abstract
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.
