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In contact with grief: Affectionate touch and intimacy in bereaved parents
Turan Deniz Ergun1,2, Asuman Buyukcan-Tetik2,3, Anik Debrot4
1Department of Psychology, Health, & Technology, University of Twente, The Netherlands.
Child loss impacts parental well-being. This study found affectionate touch benefits intimacy for bereaved and non-bereaved couples, with similar patterns for coping with grief.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Family Studies
- Grief Research
Background:
- Child loss significantly impairs parental well-being.
- The impact of grief on couple's behavioral exchanges, specifically affectionate touch, is understudied.
- Understanding these dynamics is crucial for supporting bereaved families.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare affectionate touch levels between bereaved and non-bereaved couples.
- To examine the role of affectionate touch in marital intimacy for both groups.
- To investigate the association between partners' affectionate touch similarity and intimacy.
Main Methods:
- A seven-day diary study involving 228 bereaved couples and 258 non-bereaved couples.
- Quantitative comparison of self-reported affectionate touch and intimacy levels.
- Multilevel analyses to assess the concurrent and lagged effects of touch on intimacy.
Main Results:
- Bereaved women reported lower affectionate touch than non-bereaved women, while men's touch levels were similar.
- Affectionate touch positively impacted intimacy for both genders in bereaved and non-bereaved couples.
- For bereaved women, touch also predicted increased intimacy the following day.
- Couples reported higher intimacy when both partners exhibited higher levels of affectionate touch.
Conclusions:
- Affectionate touch plays a vital role in maintaining and enhancing intimacy within couples, regardless of grief status.
- Similar relational gains from affectionate touch were observed in both bereaved and non-bereaved couples.
- Affectionate touch shows promise as a coping mechanism for navigating the challenges of child loss within relationships.
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