Throughout the life span, individuals engage in affectionate touch with close others. Touch receipt promotes well-being in infancy, but the impacts of touch in adult close relationships have been largely unexplored. In this article, we propose that affectionate touch receipt promotes relational, psychological, and physical well-being in adulthood, and we present a theoretical mechanistic model to explain why affectionate touch may promote these outcomes. The model includes pathways through which touch could affect well-being by reducing stress and by promoting well-being independent of stress. Specifically, two immediate outcomes of affectionate touch receipt-relational-cognitive changes and neurobiological changes-are described as important mechanisms underlying the effects of affectionate touch on well-being. We also review and evaluate the existing research linking affectionate touch to well-being in adulthood and propose an agenda to advance research in this area. This theoretical perspective provides a foundation for future work on touch in adult close relationships.

中文翻译：

---

情感接触促进成年期的关系、心理和身体健康：理论模型和研究回顾。

在整个生命周期中，个人都会与亲密的人进行深情的接触。触摸接收可以促进婴儿期的幸福感，但触摸对成人亲密关系的影响在很大程度上尚未得到探索。在这篇文章中，我们提出深情触摸可以促进成年后的关系、心理和身体健康，并且我们提出了一个理论机制模型来解释为什么深情触摸可以促进这些结果。该模型包括通过减少压力和促进独立于压力的幸福感来影响幸福感的途径。具体来说，深情触摸接收的两个直接结果——关系认知变化和神经生物学变化——被描述为深情触摸对幸福感影响的重要机制。我们还回顾和评估了现有的将深情触摸与成年幸福感联系起来的研究，并提出了推进该领域研究的议程。这种理论观点为未来在成人亲密关系中的接触研究奠定了基础。