9/20/2023 0 Comments Hugs 98 sourcSeveral investigators have proposed nonsexual, caring physical touch such as hugging or hand-holding as an important means of conveying empathy, caring and reassurance (e.g., Holt-Lunstad, Birmingham & Light, 2008 Grewen, Anderson, Girdler & Light, 2003 Reis & Patrick, 1996). However, the aforementioned evidence for stress-buffering derives from studies assessing global perceptions of support, and we know little about the specific behaviors most effective in conveying the availability of these resources to others (cf. Offering support of any kind can be viewed as an expression of empathy, caring and reassurance, resources thought to be most beneficial in the face of stressful events ( Cobb, 1976). Perceived support may also protect against stress-elicited increases in risk for physical morbidity and mortality ( Rosengren, Orth-Gomer, Wedel, & Wilhelmsen, 1993 Falk, Hanson, Isacsson & Ostergren, 1992). The perceived availability of social support has been found to protect against the potential of stressful events to elicit psychological distress, depression and anxiety (reviews by Cohen & Wills, 1985 Kawachi & Berkman, 2001 Schwartzer & Leppin, 1989). Social support refers to a social network’s provision of psychological and material resources intended to benefit an individual’s ability to cope with stressful events (e.g., Cassel, 1976 Cobb, 1976 Cohen, 2004 Thoits, 1986). These data suggest that hugging may act as an effective means of conveying support. Among infected participants, greater perceived support and more frequent hugs each predicted less severe illness signs. A similar stress-buffering effect emerged for hugging, which explained 32% of the attenuating effect of support. Perceived support protected against the rise in infection risk associated with increasing frequency of conflict. Subsequently, participants were exposed to a virus that causes a common cold, and monitored in quarantine to assess infection and illness signs. Perceived support was assessed by questionnaire, and daily interpersonal conflict and receipt of hugs by telephone interviews on 14 consecutive evenings. In 406 healthy adults, we examined the roles of perceived social support and received hugs in buffering against interpersonal stress-induced susceptibility to infectious disease. How such protection might be conferred, however, is not well understood. Perceived social support has been hypothesized to protect against the pathogenic effects of stress.
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