MORE TOUCHING OBSERVATIONS - NEW INSIGHTS ON MEN, WOMEN, AND INTERPERSONAL TOUCH

To describe sex differences in interpersonal touch, observation was made of 4,500 dyads in their teens and older in public places. The principal analyses addressed the issue of asymmetry in the initiation of touch in mixed-sex dyads. Over all ages and initiating body parts, males touched females (MF touch) with the same frequency that females touched males (FM touch). However, among younger dyads, MF touch prevailed, whereas the reverse was true for older dyads. Though there was a tendency for MF touch with the hand to exceed FM touch with the hand, significant sex differences appeared only for "arm around," in which MF touch prevailed, and "arms linked," in which FM touch was more common. Analyses also addressed main effects of toucher sex and recipient sex, male-male versus female-female touch, and same- versus opposite-sex touch.