Parents’ Touch of Their Preterm Infants and its Relationship to Their State of Mind Regarding Touch

This study examined differences between mothers and fathers in how they
touched their preterm infants and the relationships of parental touch to infant gender and to the parents’ state of
mind regarding touch. There were no differences in the ways that parents touched boys versus girls or in their
use of nurturing and stimulating touch. However, fathers touched their infants more frequently than mothers and
in more complex ways. A father’s experience with touch in his family of origin was related to the ways he
touched his infant although evidence of these intergenerational effects was not found for mothers. For all
parents, their personal satisfaction with the touch they experienced in their current lives was associated with the
ways they touched their infants. However, results suggest that mothers and fathers have different psychological
strategies for grappling with their own perceived tactile deprivation or abuse from touch.