Does Hugging Provide Stress-Buffering Social Support? A Study of Susceptibility to Upper Respiratory Infection and Illness
Open accessAbstract
Perceived social support has been hypothesized to protect against the pathogenic effects of stress. How such protection might be conferred, however, is not well understood. Using a sample of 404 healthy adults, we examined the roles of perceived social support and received hugs in buffering against interpersonal stress-induced susceptibility to infectious disease. Perceived support was assessed by questionnaire, and daily interpersonal conflict and receipt of hugs were assessed by telephone interviews on 14 consecutive evenings. Subsequently, participants were exposed to a virus that causes a common cold and were monitored in quarantine to assess infection and illness signs. Perceived support protected against the rise in infection risk associated with increasing frequency of conflict. A similar stress-buffering effect emerged for hugging, which explained 32% of the attenuating effect of support. Among infected participants, greater perceived support and more-frequent hugs each predicted less-severe illness signs. These data suggest that hugging may effectively convey social support.
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Receiving frequent hugs relates to faster recovery times after being infected with a common cold virus.
“as well as to faster recovery times after being infected with a common cold virus [12].”
From Self-soothing touch and being hugged reduce cortisol responses to stress: A randomized controlled trial on stress, physical touch, and social identity (2021) · cites this paper as [12]
The Results (Signs of Illness Among Infected Participants; page not available) associate more frequent hugs with more efficient nasal clearance in infected participants. The Methods (Measures; page not available) define nasal clearance time as how quickly mucus moves through the nasal passage, not how long it takes to recover from a cold. The paper does not establish faster recovery times. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredAffiliative touch like hand-holding or hugging can be perceived as a form of social support.
“Affiliative touch like hand-holding or hugging can be perceived as a form of social support [[12], [14]].”
From Self-soothing touch and being hugged reduce cortisol responses to stress: A randomized controlled trial on stress, physical touch, and social identity (2021) · cites this paper as [12]
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- Authors
- Cohen, S., Janicki-Deverts, D., Turner, R. B., & Doyle, W. J.
- Affiliations
- Carnegie Mellon University (US)
- Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University
- University of Virginia (US)
- University of Pittsburgh (US)
- Venue
- Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2014-12-19
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 135-147
- ISSN
- 0956-7976 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-9280
- PMC
- PMC4323947
- OpenAlex
- W2105824485
- Cited by
- 274
- References
- 13
- Citations by year
- 2026: 20 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 28 · 2021: 34 · 2020: 33 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 42 · 2017: 16 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 4
- FWCI
- 5.56
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Psychological Science (publishedVersion, public-domain)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- KiltHub Repository (submittedVersion)
- KiltHub Repository
- Funders
- University of Pittsburgh (UL1RR024153, RR024153)
- National Institutes of Health (UL1TR000005, UL1 TR0005, HL 65112, RR024153, AT006694)
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (HL65111, HL65112, P50HL065112, P50HL065111)
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (R01AI066367, UL1 TR0005, AI066367)
- National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (AT006694)
- National Center for Research Resources (UL1RR024153)
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (UL1 TR0005)
- National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (R01AT006694, AT006694)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Keywords
- hugging, perceived social support, stress buffering, upper respiratory tract infection, common cold, interpersonal conflict, infection susceptibility, disease severity, physical contact
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Disease Susceptibility, Female, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Male, Middle Aged, Surveys and Questionnaires, Respiratory Tract Infections, Risk Factors, Social Support, Stress, Psychological, Young Adult
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