Out of touch: Touch deprivation and affective touch perception during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Interpersonal touch and affective touch play a crucial role in social interactions and have a positive influence on mental health. The social distancing regulations related to the COVID-19 pandemic have reduced the ability to engage in interpersonal touch. This could cause touch deprivation, and it might alter the way in which affective touch is perceived. To investigate this, we conducted an online survey with 2348 participants, which contained questions regarding the COVID-19 regulations, touch deprivation and the perceived pleasantness of affective and non-affective touch. Results showed that participants reported feelings of touch deprivation. This significantly increased with the duration and severity of the COVID-19 regulations. Participants who experienced more touch deprivation rated videos of affective and non-affective touch as more pleasant. Current results provide insight in the impact of sudden and prolonged COVID-19 regulations and show that increasing the duration and severity of these regulations is associated with a higher desire for touch, which leads to increased perceived pleasantness of touch.

Character Strengths as a Predictor of Adult Friendship Quality and Satisfaction: Implications for Psychological Interventions

“…Only one study secondarily examined this relationship, and found that a set of character strengths (curiosity, honesty, zest, love, kindness, social intelligence, teamwork, fairness, leadership, gratitude, hope, and humor) positively correlated with friendship satisfaction, while three character strengths, (kindness, social intelligence, and humor) were additionally correlated with spending more time with friends (Ruch et al, 2010). Since social wellbeing is of high importance for adults, especially during and after the COVID-19 pandemic that fiercely affected people's social life (Dahlberg, 2021;Meijer et al, 2022), there is a need to identify personal characteristics, (i.e., character strengths, that are associ-ated with positive relationships with others, and especially positive friendships) .…”

“…The European Journal of Counselling Psychology readiness (Meijer et al, 2022) and could have altered the processes that take place in friendships.…”