Parent-Child Positive Touch: Gender, Age, and Task Differences.
This study examined gender, age, and task differences in positive touch and physical proximity during mother-child and father-child conversations. Sixty-five Spanish mothers and fathers and their 4- (M= 53.50 months,SD= 3.54) and 6-year-old (M= 77.07 months,SD= 3.94) children participated in this study. Positive touch was examined during a play-related storytelling task and a reminiscence task (conversation about past emotions). Fathers touched their children positively more frequently during the play-related storytelling task than did mothers. Both mothers and fathers were in closer proximity to their 6-year-olds than their 4-year-olds. Mothers and fathers touched their children positively more frequently when reminiscing than when playing. Finally, 6-year-olds remained closer to their parents than did 4-year-olds. Implications of these findings for future research on children's socioemotional development are discussed.
University of Surrey, Guildford, UK.
Ana
A
Aznar
University of Surrey, Guildford, UK.
Harriet R
HR
Tenenbaum
Children; Gender differences; Nonverbal communication; Parent; Positive touch