In this questionnaire, I want to test the theory that people went through touch starvation symptoms during lockdown regardless of whether they had some minimal physical contact with some people of their close bubble. I also want to test whether people became more touch averse after the COVID-19 outbreak because the virus is still circulating, even though lockdown is over and vaccinations are in progress. If my theory is correct the more affectionate the participant the more chances they have to have had experienced touch starvation symptoms during lockdown. Additionally, if my second theory is correct, then the questionnaire responses must show an increase of touch aversion level from human to human and from human to objects after the outbreak regardless of how affectionate someone is.
This questionnaire can be divided into four parts. The first part is the demographics part. The second part focuses on understanding the general personal relationship of the respondent with physical contact and touch (before the COVID-19 outbreak). The third part of the questionnaire focuses on the respondent’s personal lockdown experience in terms of touch starvation and its potential symptoms (Touch starvation is a condition that happens when you don’t get as much physical touch as you’re used to — or any at all. You crave contact but can’t interact with others for some reason). And the last part focuses on potential post-COVID 19 outbreak consequences in terms of physical contact and touch aversion.
This analysis is based on 41 responses recorded in the course of 24hrs 6/7/21-7/7/21. 35 of the respondents belong in the age range of 18-30, 4 of them belong in the age range of 31-40, and 2 of them in the 50-60. 25 participants identified as female including transgender female people, 15 males including transgender males, one identified as nonbinary, and one as “gender fluid but most people know me as a CIS woman”. Thirty-two participants are located in Europe, four in North America, one in the UK, one in Russia, and two in Asia. Eighteen participants identify with no religion, four participants preferred not to respond to the question of religion. One is agnostic in terms of religion, sixteen identified as Catholicism/Christianity, one as Judaism, and one as Islam.
The demographics questions are important to understand the cultural diversity of the respondents. Diversity is a fundamental factor in the results of the questionnaire because different cultures have different relationships with touch and physical contact, mannerisms, and the level of comfort in terms of how affectionate or not one can be. The relationship of someone with physical contact can also vary amongst different genders (based on their culture or not), and different ages. Finally, religion is also an important factor in terms of the relationship of someone with physical contact. Consequently, demographics questions are important in order to identify potential biases in the responses, and potential reasons for skewed results if we were to generalize the responses in a universal context.
In general, most participants are quite affectionate people based on the second part of the questionnaire. More specifically, approximately 60% of respondents strongly agree and 25% agree on the question of, “I often meet my friends and family by giving them hug”. Most participants agree with the phrase “I like to link arms with my friends and family as I walk”, and most participants hug their friends and family goodbye. More than 90% of the participants hug their friends or family goodbye around 50% of the participants kissed their friends and family goodbye.
Moreover, more than 85% of the participants greet their friends with a hug and more than 70% of the participants regularly hug people they’re close to. More than 50% of the participants like to have their skin stroked and a big percentage of the participants often fall asleep holding someone they’re close to. More than 75% of the participants like to snuggle on the sofa with someone they’re close to, a big percentage likes to give shoulder massages and more than 90% likes to receives shoulder massages. More than 65% like to fall asleep in the arms of someone they’re close to, approximately 75% like to stroke the skin of someone they’re close to and around 80% of the participants enjoy cuddling with someone they’re close to. Almost all participants strongly agree that kissing is enjoyable in a romantic relationship. There is general neutrality in the phrase “I feel uncomfortable if someone, I don’t know, well touches me in a friendly manner”. Almost all participants agree on the argument that they have to know someone well to enjoy their hug. There is a balanced variety in the responses when it comes to feeling uncomfortable when someone they do not know well touches their arm in a friendly manner. A big percentage of the participants are not afraid of germs and 40% of the participants agree on the fact that they have experienced fear of contracting illnesses/viruses.
Overall, the participants have a significantly high comfort level with the general concept of physical touch/contact/interaction/affection.
It is reasonable to propose that if my theory of having a link between COVID-19 outbreak and touch starvation is true, then, most of the respondents, since they’re affectionate, will be affected by touch starvation during lockdown, regardless of whether they had some physical contact.
Most participants had both physical contact and engaged in virtual visual communication such as zoom calls during lockdown. Studies have shown that visual virtual communication is about 80% as effective as actual physical contact for avoiding touch starvation (Center et.al, 2020).
More than 75% of the participants argue they missed having physical contact with their close bubbles and about half of the respondents recognize they lacked physical contact during lockdown. Eighteen respondents tried to compensate their lack of physical contact with engaging in activities that allowed them to have tactile experiences such as exploring nature and thrirty participants engaged in non-tactile activities to supplement their lack of physical contact with their close bubble. 93% of the participants noticed a change in moods during lockdown, 60% had changes in their sleep schedule, 47% had trouble sleeping, 64% noticed an increase in their stress levels, 50% noticed an increase in anxiety, and a 43% recognizes a change in their digestive system. All of the sypmtoms above are symptoms that are prevalent to people who suffer from touch starvation. Of course this is not a medical study and by no means I can make such an assumption about the state of a person, however, I can support the fact that most respondents lacked physical contact.
It should be noted that most of the participants who responded neutral or disagreed with the argument of lacking physical contact during lockdown were the same people who are not as affectionate compared to the rest of the respondents as observed in the second part of the questionnaire.
In the last part, I am investigating whether people are noticing changes in their behavior in terms of being more touch averse with people and with objects due to the outbreak. Indeed, 80% of the respondents have noticed they are more aware now of their hygiene habits, of their touching objects in public etc. Additionally, approximately 70% of the participants are more aware when greeting their friends/family and have noticed a change in the way they greet them because the virus is still circulating. 30-50% are afraid they might contract the virus by kidding or hugging their friends/family.
50% has found themselves doubting whether they have washed their hands properly after being outside and more than half has found themselves doubting on whether they have contracted COVID-19 just because they are experiencing a simple symtpom such as tiredenss. Finally, more than 85% of the participants has noticed a change in their hygiene habits e.g. wash their hands more often and the rest 10% who has not changed their hygiene reported past experience with fear of germs which may imply their hygiene habits were already quite polished.
In conclusion, even though our respondents are quite affectionate people they have changed their behavior in terms of physical communication and have found themselves showing signs of fear of contracting germs and viruses without having prior history of germophobia.
The results of this questionnaire are in line with my two initial theories that lockdown is linked to touch starvation and that the outbreak is linked to a general increase in touch aversion in people. This questionnaire provides reasoning to support my final major project idea of an art experiment through a VR experience that acts as a commentary on the effects of COVID-19 in our society in terms of touch starvation and touch aversion.