Individuals vary in their personal space (PS) size as reflected by the preferred distance to another person during social interactions. A previous study with adults showed that pathogen-relevant disgust proneness (DP) predicted PS magnitude. The present study investigated whether this association between DP and PS already exists in 8- to 12-year-old children (144 girls, 101 boys). The children answered a disgust questionnaire with the two trait dimensions “core disgust (contact with spoiled food and poor hygiene) and “death-relevant disgust” (imagined contact with dead and dying organisms). PS magnitude was assessed with a paper–pencil measure (drawing a PS bubble; Experiment 1) or with the stop-distance task (preferred distance to an approaching woman or man; Experiment 2). In both experiments, only death-related disgust predicted PS magnitude and only if the approaching person was male. The current study questions the relevance of pathogen-related disgust in children for regulating interpersonal distance.

中文翻译：

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儿童的厌恶倾向和个人空间。

每个人的个人空间（PS）大小各不相同，这反映在社交互动期间与另一个人的首选距离。之前针对成年人的一项研究表明，与病原体相关的厌恶倾向 (DP) 可以预测 PS 强度。本研究调查了 DP 和 PS 之间的这种关联是否已经存在于 8 至 12 岁儿童（144 名女孩，101 名男孩）中。孩子们回答了一份厌恶调查问卷，其中包含两个特征维度“核心厌恶（接触变质的食物和不良的卫生条件）和“与死亡相关的厌恶”（想象与死亡和垂死的生物体接触）。PS 大小通过纸笔测量（画 PS 气泡；实验 1）或停止距离任务（与接近的女性或男性的首选距离；实验 2）来评估。在这两项实验中，只有与死亡相关的厌恶才能预测 PS 强度，并且只有当接近的人是男性时。目前的研究质疑儿童与病原体相关的厌恶与调节人际距离的相关性。