Affective Interpersonal Touch in Close Relationships: A Cross-Cultural Perspective

Summary

This large-scale collaboration examined affective interpersonal touch in close relationships across cultures, drawing on more than 14,000 participants from 45 countries. Respondents reported whether, in the preceding week, they had embraced, stroked, kissed, or hugged their partner, friends, and youngest child. Affective touch was most common in relationships with romantic partners and children, and its diversity varied systematically with cultural and individual characteristics. Greater touch diversity occurred in warmer, less conservative, and more religious countries, and among younger, female, and more liberal individuals. The findings show that everyday affectionate touch is shaped by both cultural context and personal factors, offering a broad cross-cultural map of how people express closeness physically.