This study examined the longitudinal effects of cuddling on relational quality for married couples. In a four-week experiment, 80 adults were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: increased cuddling (treatment), increased time spent together (comparison), or no change in behavior (control). Controlling for the pretest relational quality scores and changes in kissing behavior, individuals in the treatment condition reported more relational satisfaction and lower quality of alternatives after four weeks than did individuals in the comparison and control conditions. The comparison and control conditions did not differ from each other on any relational outcomes.

这项研究研究了拥抱对已婚夫妇关系质量的纵向影响。在一个为期四周的实验中，将80位成年人随机分配给以下三种情况之一：拥抱（治疗），增加在一起的时间（比较）或行为无变化（对照）。控制测试前的关系质量评分和接吻行为的变化，与比较和对照条件下的患者相比，治疗条件下的患者在四周后报告的关系满意度更高，替代方法的质量更低。比较和对照条件在任何关系结果上都没有不同。