Have you ever considered how something as simple as a hug can shape a child’s future? Research findings from our lab suggest that touch can shape how children’s bodies respond to stress.
The researchers studied a diverse group of 114 mothers and their preschool-aged children, observing maternal touch in video recordings of their conversations about an emotionally negative event. The researchers recorded the frequency of positive, negative, and neutral touch behaviors from the mothers during these interactions. Additionally, the researchers challenged the children with a somewhat stressful task in order to measure stress reactivity – how the children responded physically and emotionally to stress – because of the important role it plays in one’s ability to manage and cope with stress throughout life.
The results showed that children who received more positive touch exhibited lower stress reactivity after the challenging tasks, while those with less positive touch reacted more strongly. In other words, positive touch helped regulate the children’s stress responses. This research, published in the Journal of Developmental Psychobiology, highlights the primary role of parents in regulating their children’s psychobiological systems during the preschool years.