APS
2025 APS Annual Convention · 2025
From Tension to Tenderness: Affectionate Touch Is Predicted By Dispositional Intimacy Motivation and Regulates Affect amid Relationship Stressors
- Julia Schäfer
University of Zurich - Veronika Brandstätter
University of Zurich - Marie Hennecke
Ruhr University Bochum - Melanie Naumann
Ruhr University Bochum - Miriam Pfister
University of Zurich - Katharina Bernecker
University of Zurich
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
