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The Effect of Interpersonal Touch During Childhood on Adult Attachment and Depression: A Neglected Area of Family and Developmental Psychology?

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Abstract

Interpersonal touch has been little studied empirically as an indicator of parent- and peer-child intimacy. Undergraduate students (n = 390) were studied using a questionnaire survey regarding the frequencies of interpersonal touch by father, mother, same-sex peers, and opposite-sex peers during preschool ages, grades 1–3, grades 4–6, and grades 7–9, as well as their current attachment style to a romantic partner and current depression. A path model indicated that current depression was influenced significantly by poorer self- and other-images as well as by fewer parental interpersonal touches throughout childhood. Other-image was influenced by early (up to grade 3) parental interpersonal touch. Our findings suggest that a lower frequency of parental touching during childhood influences the development of depression and contributes to a poorer image of an individual’s romantic partner during later adolescence and early adulthood.

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Acknowledgments

This study was partly supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan: “Assessment and education for acceptability’s or bodily attachment at care-taking scene between the stuff and the client” (C-14510180).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Business Administration, Jiyugaoka Sanno College, Tokyo, Japan

    Mika S. Takeuchi

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Sagamihara, Japan

    Hitoshi Miyaoka

  3. Department of Psychology, Saitama Institute of Technology, Fukaya, Japan

    Atsuko Tomoda

  4. School of Human Sciences, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan

    Masao Suzuki

  5. Department of Clinical Behavioural Sciences (Psychological Medicine), Kumamoto University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kumamoto, 860-8556, Japan

    Qingbo Liu & Toshinori Kitamura

Authors
  1. Mika S. Takeuchi
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  2. Hitoshi Miyaoka
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  3. Atsuko Tomoda
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  4. Masao Suzuki
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  5. Qingbo Liu
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  6. Toshinori Kitamura
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Correspondence to Toshinori Kitamura.

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All authors contributed equally to the manuscript.

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Takeuchi, M.S., Miyaoka, H., Tomoda, A. et al. The Effect of Interpersonal Touch During Childhood on Adult Attachment and Depression: A Neglected Area of Family and Developmental Psychology?. J Child Fam Stud 19, 109–117 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-009-9290-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-009-9290-x

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