Abstract
The current study asked a sample (N =
20) of healthy young adults to report their daily hugging behaviors
over a 14-day period and to collect their saliva at the beginning and
end of the study.
Based
on affection exchange theory, we hypothesized that the frequency of
hugging would be inversely related to proinflammatory cytokines,
including interleukins (IL) 1-β, 6, and 8, and tumor necrosis
factor-alpha (TNF-α).
Controlling
for baseline levels, hugging was significantly and inversely related to
IL1-β and TNF-α after the 14-day period. Associations with IL-6 and
IL-8, although nonsignificant, were also in the hypothesized direction.