In contact with grief: affectionate touch and intimacy in bereaved parents

• Turan Deniz Ergun ^[1] ; Asuman Buyukcan-Tetik ^[2] ; Anik Debrot ^[3] ; Henk Schut ^[4] ; Margaret Stroebe ^[4]
  1. [1] University of Twente

     University of Twente

     Países Bajos

     
  2. [2] Sabancı University

     Sabancı University

     Turquía

     
  3. [3] University of Lausanne

     University of Lausanne

     Lausana, Suiza

     
  4. [4] Utrecht University

     Utrecht University

     Países Bajos

     

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• Localización: International journal of clinical and health psychology, ISSN 1697-2600, Vol. 24, Nº. 4, 2024, págs. 261-270
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Although child loss impairs well-being, its impact on behavioral exchanges between bereaved parents remains understudied. We compared bereaved and non-bereaved couples regarding affectionate touch levels, the role of affectionate touch in intimacy, and the association between partners’ affectionate touch similarity and intimacy. Bereaved (228 couples, 27 individuals) and non-bereaved (258 couples, seven individuals) people participated in our seven-day diary study. Although bereaved and non-bereaved men reported equal affectionate touch, bereaved women's affectionate touch was lower than non-bereaved women's. Despite this discrepancy, multilevel analyses revealed that affectionate touch concurrently benefited both genders’ intimacy in bereaved and non-bereaved couples. For bereaved women, touch also contributed to next day's intimacy. We also showed that couples reported higher intimacy if both partners had higher vs. lower affectionate touch. Our findings highlight bereaved and non-bereaved couples’ similarity regarding the relational gains of affectionate touch and the promising function of affectionate touch in coping with loss.