You have full access to this open access article. Interpersonal touch buffers against stress under challenging conditions, but this effect depends on familiarity. People benefit from receiving touch from their romantic partners, but the results are less consistent in the context of receiving touch from an opposite-gender stranger. We propose that there may be important gender differences in how people respond to touch from opposite-gender strangers. Specifically, we propose that touch from an opposite-gender stranger may only have stress-buffering effects for men, not women.
Stress was induced as participants took part in an emotion recognition task in which they received false failure feedback while being touched by a romantic partner or stranger. We measured subjective and physiological markers of stress i. Women, however, subjectively experienced a stress-buffering effect of partner and stranger touch, but showed increased physiological markers of stress when receiving touch from an opposite-gender stranger.
These results highlight the importance of considering gender when investigating touch as a stress buffer. Moreover, in challenging contexts, touch appears to buffer stress reactions e. However, the benefits of touch seem to depend on the relationship between the individuals involved e. Past results have been inconsistent as to the benefits of receiving touch from strangers, suggesting the potential presence of a moderating factor.
Here, we suggest that one factor may be gender. We predicted that men and women would experience similar stress-buffering benefits when receiving touch from an opposite-gender romantic partner, but only men would experience stress buffering effects when receiving touch from an opposite-gender stranger. Therefore, the present study examined whether there was an interaction between familiarity i.
Daily touch behaviors predict subsequent increases in momentary positive affect for both the giver and the receiver Debrot et al. Moreover, daily touch frequency predicts partner psychological well-being six months later Debrot et al. These benefits seem to be particularly notable in stressful situations for a review about the calming effect of touch, see Eckstein et al. Partner touch reduces the subjective experience of strain i.
