{"id":{"repo_id":"baylor","oai_identifier":"oai:baylor-ir.tdl.org:2104/13980"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/baylor/oai:baylor-ir.tdl.org:2104/13980","repository":{"repo_id":"baylor","name":"Baylor University","base_url":"https://baylor-ir.tdl.org/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Examining the effects of affectionate touch and active engagement in the relationship between positive interactions and emotional outcomes.","abstract":"Objective: This study aimed to 1) examine whether affectionate touch explains unique variance in emotional outcomes, such as emotion regulation and positive affect, beyond general positive interactions; 2) investigate whether active engagement moderates the relationship between positive interactions and emotional outcomes; and 3) determine whether these effects differ across various young adult relationship types. Methods: Participants included 413 undergraduate students at Baylor University who reported seeking social support for a stressful experience within the past month. Participants completed an online survey assessing interpersonal interactions, active engagement during stress, positive affect, and emotion regulation. Participants could evaluate positive interactions across up to three relationship types: 39.9% (N = 165) reported on a romantic partner, 78.7% (N = 325) on a family member, and 79.2% (N = 327) on a close friend. Results: Affectionate touch did not significantly predict positive affect or context-specific emotion regulation outcomes, with findings consistent across relationship types. Although active engagement was significantly associated with emotional outcomes, it did not moderate the effects of general positive interactions or affectionate touch on emotional outcomes across relationship types. Conclusions: This study found no evidence that affectionate touch uniquely predicts emotional outcomes beyond general positive interactions. Further, active engagement did not moderate the relationship between positive interactions or affectionate touch and emotional outcomes. Potential explanations for these findings include the possibility that 1) individuals do not distinguish between touch and other types of positive interaction, 2) the Affectionate Touch Scale (ATS) used in this study failed to meaningfully capture facets of affectionate touch in its assessment across relationship types, or 3) methodological limitations of this study impacted the results. Practice Implications: These findings highlight the need for further research to refine measures of affectionate touch and explore its unique contributions to emotional outcomes across relationship types.","abstract_html":"Objective: This study aimed to 1) examine whether affectionate touch explains unique variance in emotional outcomes, such as emotion regulation and positive affect, beyond general positive interactions; 2) investigate whether active engagement moderates the relationship between positive interactions and emotional outcomes; and 3) determine whether these effects differ across various young adult relationship types. Methods: Participants included 413 undergraduate students at Baylor University who reported seeking social support for a stressful experience within the past month. Participants completed an online survey assessing interpersonal interactions, active engagement during stress, positive affect, and emotion regulation. Participants could evaluate positive interactions across up to three relationship types: 39.9% (N = 165) reported on a romantic partner, 78.7% (N = 325) on a family member, and 79.2% (N = 327) on a close friend. Results: Affectionate touch did not significantly predict positive affect or context-specific emotion regulation outcomes, with findings consistent across relationship types. Although active engagement was significantly associated with emotional outcomes, it did not moderate the effects of general positive interactions or affectionate touch on emotional outcomes across relationship types. Conclusions: This study found no evidence that affectionate touch uniquely predicts emotional outcomes beyond general positive interactions. Further, active engagement did not moderate the relationship between positive interactions or affectionate touch and emotional outcomes. Potential explanations for these findings include the possibility that 1) individuals do not distinguish between touch and other types of positive interaction, 2) the Affectionate Touch Scale (ATS) used in this study failed to meaningfully capture facets of affectionate touch in its assessment across relationship types, or 3) methodological limitations of this study impacted the results. Practice Implications: These findings highlight the need for further research to refine measures of affectionate touch and explore its unique contributions to emotional outcomes across relationship types.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Nguyen, Ashley Buchanan, 1994-"],"institution":"Baylor University.","degree_name":"Psy.D.","degree_level":"Doctoral","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Sanford, Keith Philip."],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2025,"date_issued":"2025-08","date_published":"2025-08","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:07:52Z","subjects":["Active engagement.","Affectionate touch.","Context-specific.","Emotion regulation.","Interpersonal resilience.","Positive interaction."],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Baylor University works are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. Contact libraryquestions@baylor.edu for inquiries about permission."],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/2104/13980","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Sanford, Keith Philip."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Nguyen, Ashley Buchanan, 1994-"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2025-09-19T20:23:18Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2025-08"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Doctoral"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Psy.D."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["Baylor University."]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Active engagement.","Affectionate touch.","Context-specific.","Emotion regulation.","Interpersonal resilience.","Positive interaction."]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Baylor University works are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. Contact libraryquestions@baylor.edu for inquiries about permission."]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/2104/13980"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Objective: This study aimed to 1) examine whether affectionate touch explains unique variance in emotional outcomes, such as emotion regulation and positive affect, beyond general positive interactions; 2) investigate whether active engagement moderates the relationship between positive interactions and emotional outcomes; and 3) determine whether these effects differ across various young adult relationship types. Methods: Participants included 413 undergraduate students at Baylor University who reported seeking social support for a stressful experience within the past month. Participants completed an online survey assessing interpersonal interactions, active engagement during stress, positive affect, and emotion regulation. Participants could evaluate positive interactions across up to three relationship types: 39.9% (N = 165) reported on a romantic partner, 78.7% (N = 325) on a family member, and 79.2% (N = 327) on a close friend. Results: Affectionate touch did not significantly predict positive affect or context-specific emotion regulation outcomes, with findings consistent across relationship types. Although active engagement was significantly associated with emotional outcomes, it did not moderate the effects of general positive interactions or affectionate touch on emotional outcomes across relationship types. Conclusions: This study found no evidence that affectionate touch uniquely predicts emotional outcomes beyond general positive interactions. Further, active engagement did not moderate the relationship between positive interactions or affectionate touch and emotional outcomes. Potential explanations for these findings include the possibility that 1) individuals do not distinguish between touch and other types of positive interaction, 2) the Affectionate Touch Scale (ATS) used in this study failed to meaningfully capture facets of affectionate touch in its assessment across relationship types, or 3) methodological limitations of this study impacted the results. Practice Implications: These findings highlight the need for further research to refine measures of affectionate touch and explore its unique contributions to emotional outcomes across relationship types."]},{"key":"dc:format.mimetype","label":"Dc Format Mimetype","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Examining the effects of affectionate touch and active engagement in the relationship between positive interactions and emotional outcomes."]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Sanford, Keith Philip."],"dc:creator":["Nguyen, Ashley Buchanan, 1994-"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2025-09-19T20:23:18Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2025-08"],"dc:description.abstract":["Objective: This study aimed to 1) examine whether affectionate touch explains unique variance in emotional outcomes, such as emotion regulation and positive affect, beyond general positive interactions; 2) investigate whether active engagement moderates the relationship between positive interactions and emotional outcomes; and 3) determine whether these effects differ across various young adult relationship types. Methods: Participants included 413 undergraduate students at Baylor University who reported seeking social support for a stressful experience within the past month. Participants completed an online survey assessing interpersonal interactions, active engagement during stress, positive affect, and emotion regulation. Participants could evaluate positive interactions across up to three relationship types: 39.9% (N = 165) reported on a romantic partner, 78.7% (N = 325) on a family member, and 79.2% (N = 327) on a close friend. Results: Affectionate touch did not significantly predict positive affect or context-specific emotion regulation outcomes, with findings consistent across relationship types. Although active engagement was significantly associated with emotional outcomes, it did not moderate the effects of general positive interactions or affectionate touch on emotional outcomes across relationship types. Conclusions: This study found no evidence that affectionate touch uniquely predicts emotional outcomes beyond general positive interactions. Further, active engagement did not moderate the relationship between positive interactions or affectionate touch and emotional outcomes. Potential explanations for these findings include the possibility that 1) individuals do not distinguish between touch and other types of positive interaction, 2) the Affectionate Touch Scale (ATS) used in this study failed to meaningfully capture facets of affectionate touch in its assessment across relationship types, or 3) methodological limitations of this study impacted the results. Practice Implications: These findings highlight the need for further research to refine measures of affectionate touch and explore its unique contributions to emotional outcomes across relationship types."],"dc:format.mimetype":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://hdl.handle.net/2104/13980"],"dc:language.iso":["en"],"dc:rights":["Baylor University works are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. Contact libraryquestions@baylor.edu for inquiries about permission."],"dc:subject":["Active engagement.","Affectionate touch.","Context-specific.","Emotion regulation.","Interpersonal resilience.","Positive interaction."],"dc:title":["Examining the effects of affectionate touch and active engagement in the relationship between positive interactions and emotional outcomes."],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_level":["Doctoral"],"thesis:degree_name":["Psy.D."],"thesis:institution_name":["Baylor University."]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:07:52Z"}