Although touch is common in romantic relationships and is generally beneficial, people differ in the extent to which they desire to give and receive touch. The current research identified individual and relationship characteristics that predict overall desire for touch and unique desire for overtly affectionate versus indirectly affectionate forms of touch. In both a sample of dating, engaged, and married individuals (Study 1) and a dyadic sample of married couples (Study 2), the strongest predictors of overall desire for touch were sex (being female) and high relationship quality (actor and partner). Attachment avoidance also predicted lower desire for touch overall (Study 1), and actor and partner attachment avoidance predicted lower desire for indirectly affectionate touch, in particular (Study 2). Finally, greater psychological distress predicted greater desire for indirectly affectionate touch in both studies. This novel descriptive information about desire for touch provides a foundation for future intervention work.

尽管在浪漫的恋爱关系中触摸是很常见的，并且通常是有益的，但是人们在希望给予和接受触摸的程度方面有所不同。当前的研究确定了个体和关系特征，这些特征预测了整体的触摸需求以及对明显的情感接触和间接情感接触形式的独特渴望。在约会，订婚和已婚个体的样本（研究1）和已婚夫妇的二元样本（研究2）中，总体上对性交渴望的最强预测因素是性别（是女性）和较高的人际关系质量（演员和伴侣） ）。避免依恋还可以预测总体上对触摸的需求较低（研究1），而避免演员和伴侣的依恋可以预测对间接情感上的接触的较低期望（尤其是研究2）。最后，在这两项研究中，更大的心理困扰预示了人们对间接情感接触的更大渴望。有关触摸欲望的新颖描述性信息为将来的干预工作奠定了基础。