APS

2025 APS Annual Convention · 2025

From Tension to Tenderness: Affectionate Touch Is Predicted By Dispositional Intimacy Motivation and Regulates Affect amid Relationship Stressors

Washington, DC · May 2025

Poster · Social

Session: Poster Session II

Authors

Abstract

Affectionate touch mitigated the negative impact of relationship stressors on affect in an observational study (N = 365 couples) and two experience sampling method (ESM) studies (N ≈ 250 individuals). Dispositional intimacy motivation predicted the frequency of affectionate touch, highlighting the role of motivational dispositions in relationship behavior.

Love and Marriage