Attitudes Towards Touch An In-Depth Analysis

Date of Award

2003

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Ryan, Kimberly

Keywords

Touch, Attitudes, Physical Contact

Area of Concentration

Psychology

Abstract

Previous research on touch indicates that people's attitudes towards touch are influenced by factors such as parental touch styles, relationship attitudes, and self esteem. However, little research has been conducted concerning the multiple factors influencing an individual's comfort levels with touch or environmental influences on touch behavior. A semistructured interview was utilized to determine individual's attitudes towards touch and their actual touch behavior assessing several variables using a semi-structured interview. Participants also completed the Touch Avoidance Measure (Anderson & Leibowitz 1978) and the Touch Test (Fromme et al., 1989). The sex of the participant and the sexual orientation of the participant were found to have a significant impact on scores on the Touch Interview, indicating different levels of comfort with touch. Factors such as religion, media influence, and gender roles appeared to be influential in the minds of some participants, but did not seem to effect overall scores on the three measures.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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