Development and Validity Testing of a Measure of Touch Deprivation

The goal of the present study was to develop and validate a measure of touch deprivation. One hundred ninety-eight undergraduate students completed the measure. The measure was shown to be both reliable and accounted for factorial, concurrent, predictive, and criterion validity. Results indicated that touch deprivation was related to several different variables, such as self-esteem and depression. Suggestions for future research and limitations were discussed. Narissra M. Punyanunt-Carter & Jason S. Wrench 69 The importance of touch cannot be overstated. Touch is a common aspect of human communication. Henley (1973) observed that touch has a huge impact on social psychology. Researchers have noted the importance of touch on physical, mental, and emotional health (Derlega, Cantanzaro, & Lewis, 2001). Touch is an important part of human communication, because individuals constantly give and receive touch from others. Previous studies have shown that touch has an impact on compliance (Brockner, Pressman, Cabitt, & Moran, 1982), willingness to spend money shopping (Hornik, 1991), willingness to complete a survey (Hornik, 1987) and willingness to return money (Kleinke, 1977). Given that so many research studies have shown how touch affects interactions and behaviors, it was important to look at perceptions of touch. The goal of the present study was to develop and test a measure of touch deprivation. Touch Deprivation Touch deprivation or the lack of haptic communication is an understudied yet very important area of nonverbal communication. Knapp and Hall (1992) noted that “tactile communication is probably the most basic or primitive form of communication... In one sense, our first input about what ‘life’ is going to be like comes from the sense of touch.” (p. 231). However, not everyone in society receives the amount of touch he or she desires or needs. In fact, research has shown that people who do not receive adequate amounts of touch develop various communication problems from reduced learning of speech (Thayer, 1986) to aggression (Field, 2002a). Field (2002b) noted that touch is extremely important for the emotional, physical, and psychological growth and development for children. Extreme cases of touch deprivation have been cited in Romanian orphanages where children attained only half their height. Moreover, there children with extreme touch deprivation have had delays in cognitive development. Appropriate touch for children has been shown to help with sleep, reduce bad temper, and enhance academic performance (Hart, Field, HernandezReif, and Lundy, 1998). Studies have found that babies who are touch appropriately are more likely to smile, cry less, and vocalize more than babies who were not touched appropriately (Field, 2002b). Prescott (1999) reported that more physical affection for children causes fewer incidents of physical aggression. In fact, Field, Morrow, Valdeon, Larson, Kuhn, and Schanberg (1992) found that increasing the amount of touch an adolescent receives through massage therapy can actually decrease violent tendencies. Furthermore, the Field et al. (1992) found that massages also helped to decrease adolescent anxiety as well. In essence, the massage therapy decreases dopamine levels while increasing serotonin levels, which ultimately decreases both aggressive and anxious tendencies. Hertenstein (2002) noted that touch has several communicative functions on infancy. In other words, positive touch elicits positive and emotions and vice versa. Even adults are impacted by the type and amount of touch they receive. In one study conducted by Field (1995), she found that when elderly individuals were trained to give massages to neglected and abused infants the elderly individuals’ levels of anxiety and depression decreased while the elderly individuals’ levels of overall mood improved. Ultimately, touch studies have indicate that touch is very important because a lack of touch leads to communication development problems (Field, 1995), depression (Field, Touch Deprivation 7