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

Ergun, Turan Deniz and Büyükcan Tetik, Asuman and Debrot, Anik and Schut, Henk and Stroebe, Margaret (2024) In contact with grief: affectionate touch and intimacy in bereaved parents. International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology, 24 (4). ISSN 1697-2600 (Print) 2174-0852 (Online)

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Abstract

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.
Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Affectionate touch; Child loss; Diary; Dyadic design; Intimacy
Divisions: Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences > Academic programs > Psychology
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Depositing User: Asuman Büyükcan Tetik
Date Deposited: 14 Feb 2025 11:11
Last Modified: 14 Feb 2025 11:11
URI: https://research.sabanciuniv.edu/id/eprint/51003

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