Dyadic Touch Study, 2015

Participants We recruited participants by giving a short presentation in several well-attended University classes (first year med school, law, etc.), by posting ads and posters and by sending emails to several colleges. To participate: a) the participants had to be in romantic heterosexual relationship for at least three months, b) both partners had to participate, c) they needed to be between 18 and 40 years old, d) they had to have a high school degree. We excluded from participation people who had a seriously impairing illness, had a diagnosed psychological disorder or taking psychoactive drugs, or were parents. Seventy heterosexual romantic couples (140 participants) took part in the study. They were between the 19 and 36 years (M=23.1, SD=2.8), relationship length ranged from three months to 10 years (M=29.0, SD=24.6 months). Most participants were Swiss (70.0%), native German speaking (81.4%), and students (80.0%). Data Participants took part in an experimental procedure where they have to complete an emotion recognition task. We provided them with a false feedback that they were doing very poorly to induce stress. During the task, they were either touched by a stranger, their partner, or not touched (control condition). They additionally completed a series of background questionnaires. The experimental data are going to be published by the authors of the study. Here we only provide the cross-sectional questionnaire data. We assessed the following constructs in both partners (in German): Demographic information (Self-formulated Items); Hypersensitivity (Highly Sensitive Person Scale; Blumentritt, 2012); Tactile sensitivity (Social touch questionnaire; Fairhurst, Löken, Grossmann, 2014 ; Wilhelm et al., 2001); Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1989; Collani Herzberg, 2003a, 2003b); Social Anxiety (Social Interaction Anxiety Scale; Mattick Clarke,1998; Stangier, Heidenreich, Berardi, Golbs, Hoyer, 1999); Emotion regulation (Skalen zum Erleben von Emotionen; Behr Becker, 2004); Behavioral inhibition and activation (BIS/BAS Scales; Carver White, 1994; Heldmann, 2004); Physical and psychological Symptoms (Brief Symptom Inventory; Franke, 2000); Traumatic events during the lifespan (Traumatic Life Events Questionnaire; Kubany et al., 2000; Teegen, 2003); Mutuality/responsiveness (Mutual Psychological Development Questionnaire; Genero, Miller, Surrey, Baldwin, 1992); Attachment style (Experiences in Close Relationships Short; Neumann, Rohmann, Bierhoff, 2007; Wei, Russell Vogel, 2007); Relationship satisfaction (Relationship Assessment Scale; Hendrick, Dicke Hendrick, 1998); Dyadic Coping (Dyadic Coping Inventory; Ledermann et al., 2010); Sexual satisfaction (Skala des Fragebogens zur Einschätzung von Partnerschaft und Familie; Kröger, Hahlweg, Klann, 2007); Physical affection (Physical affection scale; Haller, 2013; Holt-Lunstad et al., 2014).