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. 2024 Feb 16:1-11.
doi: 10.1080/00224499.2024.2310705. Online ahead of print.

Women Who Experience More Affectionate Touch Report Better Body Satisfaction and Relationship Outcomes

Jessica T Campbell  1 , Margaret Bennett-Brown  1   2 , Ellen M Kaufman  1   3 , Amanda N Gesselman  1 , David A Frederick  4 , Justin R Garcia  1   5 , Kristen P Mark  6
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Women Who Experience More Affectionate Touch Report Better Body Satisfaction and Relationship Outcomes

Jessica T Campbell et al. J Sex Res. .

Abstract

Affectionate touch (e.g. hugging, handholding) is an essential component of many intimate relationships and is a primary contributor to overall relationship satisfaction as well as sexual satisfaction. Affectionate touch is understood to be a form of non-verbal communication in which the giver is expressing positive feelings toward the receiver. Here, we propose that affectionate touch also positively impacts receivers' body satisfaction, because affectionate touch is a positive message communicated toward the receiver's body. In a cross-sectional sample of romantically partnered women (N = 1,156), we assessed the association between affectionate touch frequency and body satisfaction. We also investigated whether affectionate touch is associated with relationship/sexual satisfaction in part because touch helps to improve women's evaluations of their own bodies. Our results showed that body satisfaction was a significant, partial mediator and a valid path through which affectionate touch shapes relationship quality. Receiving affectionate touch could bolster relationship satisfaction and self-perceptions among women. Given the prevalence of body dissatisfaction amongst women, these results suggest that the underexplored associations between affectionate touch and body satisfaction may have significant impacts on a wide array of future empirical and applied research trajectories.

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