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Although touch is common in romantic relationships and is generally beneficial, people differ in the extent to which they desire to give and receive touch. The current research identified individual and relationship characteristics that predict overall desire for touch and unique desire for overtly affectionate versus indirectly affectionate forms of touch. In both a sample of dating, engaged, and married individuals (Study 1) and a dyadic sample of married couples (Study 2), the strongest predictors of overall desire for touch were sex (being female) and high relationship quality (actor and partner). Attachment avoidance also predicted lower desire for touch overall (Study 1), and actor and partner attachment avoidance predicted lower desire for indirectly affectionate touch, in particular (Study 2). Finally, greater psychological distress predicted greater desire for indirectly affectionate touch in both studies. This novel descriptive information about desire for touch provides a foundation for future intervention work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research suggests that touch promotes relationship well-being but has failed to consider motives for touch. We assessed general (Study 1) and daily (Study 2) approach and avoidance motives for touch and tested their precursors and consequences. Controlling for relationship quality and the other motive, greater attachment avoidance predicted lower approach and greater avoidance motives for touch in general but did not predict motives in daily life. Greater attachment anxiety simultaneously predicted greater approach and avoidance motives for touch in both studies suggesting anxiously attached people have ambivalent motives for touch. Critically, one's own and one's partner's approach motives for touch predicted greater daily relationship well-being, whereas own and partner avoidance motives predicted poorer daily relationship well-being. We observed indirect effects linking attachment insecurity to relationship well-being through daily motives for touch. These results underscore the importance of attending to touch motives in future work, including future intervention work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This investigation examined the extent to which receiving touch during discussions of stressors predicts subsequent personal and relational well-being. Married couples were unobtrusively videotaped as couple-members took turns discussing their personal stressors with one another. We assessed the degree to which couple-members received touch from their spouses during the discussions and investigated whether touch receipt predicted beneficial personal and relational outcomes after the discussions. Results indicated that disclosers who received greater (higher frequency and higher intensity) touch while they discussed their stressors perceived that they were more able to overcome their stressors, experienced greater decreases in self-reported stress, reported greater increases in self-esteem, and viewed their partners more positively than disclosers who received less touch. Additionally, helpers (spouses in the listening role) who received greater touch during their partner's stressor discussion also viewed their partners more positively than helpers who received less touch. Implications and potential future directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feelings of jealousy are usually detrimental to relationships, often resulting in negative outcomes ranging from conflict to violence and relationship dissolution. Anxiously attached individuals are especially prone to jealousy in their relationships and are therefore especially likely to experience negative outcomes of jealousy. In this research, we examined the effectiveness of both touch and a traditional security prime as a potential means of reducing feelings of jealousy for individuals who are high in anxious attachment. Individuals in romantic relationships were induced to feel jealous, during which time they were randomly assigned to receive affectionate touch from their partners, a traditional nontouch security prime, or no intervention (control). Results revealed that anxious attachment was associated with high levels of jealousy, and touch was an effective buffer against jealous feelings for individuals high in anxious attachment. The traditional security prime did not buffer jealous feelings. Implications of results for potential relationship interventions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]