| There may be a deeper reason for the resistance. America is what anthropologists call a “nontactile” society. Compared with most cultures, we are—so to speak—touchy about touch. When psychologist Sidney Jourard observed rates of casual touch among couples in cafes around the world, he reported the highest rate in Puerto Rico (180 times per hour). One of the lowest rates was in the U.S. (two times per hour). |  |
Field has discovered that French parents and children touch each other three times more frequently than their American counterparts, a pattern that continues with age. At McDonald’s restaurants in Paris and Miami, Field found that French adolescents demonstrate significantly more casual touching—leaning on a friend, putting an arm around another’s shoulder. American teenagers were more likely to fiddle with their rings, crack their knuckles and engage in other forms of self-stimulation. “French parents and teachers alike are more physically affectionate and the kids are less aggressive,.” says Field. (Cultures that show more physical affection toward infants and children tend to have lower rates of adult violence.)
Field worries that Americans aren’t getting enough touch, especially with growing concerns about sexual harassment and abuse in schools and workplaces. Even in preschools, touch has become taboo. (The National Education Association, which represents two million teachers, sums the matter up in a slogan: Teach don’t touch.) “The implications for children involve significant effects on their growth, development and emotional well-being,” observes Field. She is not suggesting that Americans follow the example of the Andaman Islanders, who on meeting a friend they haven’t seen in weeks sit down in the other’s lap, throw their arms around each other’s necks and weep till they’re exhausted. But she believes touch is an essential part of daily life. “America is suffering from an epidemic of skin hunger,” says Field, who talks of a “dose of touch” as if it were a vitamin. She envisions a kinder, touchier America in which teachers can hug students without fear of a lawsuit, in which parents massage their children at bedtime as naturally as they tuck them in.
