Affectionate touch and diurnal oxytocin levels: An ecological momentary assessment study.
Elife
; 122023 05 30.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-20242563
ABSTRACT
Background:
Affectionate touch, which is vital for mental and physical health, was restricted during the Covid-19 pandemic. This study investigated the association between momentary affectionate touch and subjective well-being, as well as salivary oxytocin and cortisol in everyday life during the pandemic.Methods:
In the first step, we measured anxiety and depression symptoms, loneliness and attitudes toward social touch in a large cross-sectional online survey (N = 1050). From this sample, N = 247 participants completed ecological momentary assessments over 2 days with six daily assessments by answering smartphone-based questions on affectionate touch and momentary mental state, and providing concomitant saliva samples for cortisol and oxytocin assessment.Results:
Multilevel models showed that on a within-person level, affectionate touch was associated with decreased self-reported anxiety, general burden, stress, and increased oxytocin levels. On a between-person level, affectionate touch was associated with decreased cortisol levels and higher happiness. Moreover, individuals with a positive attitude toward social touch experiencing loneliness reported more mental health problems.Conclusions:
Our results suggest that affectionate touch is linked to higher endogenous oxytocin in times of pandemic and lockdown and might buffer stress on a subjective and hormonal level. These findings might have implications for preventing mental burden during social contact restrictions.Funding:
The study was funded by the German Research Foundation, the German Psychological Society, and German Academic Exchange Service.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Touch
/
Oxytocin
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Year:
2023
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
ELife.81241
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