The Affective Architecture of Touch: Childhood Maltreatment, Emotional Avoidance, and Physical Intimacy in Adult Romantic Relationships

Abstract

Childhood maltreatment (CM) is associated with significant difficulties in adult romantic relationships, yet the mechanisms through which early adversity shapes physical intimacy remain poorly understood. Physical touch, a fundamental vehicle for connection, safety, and relational maintenance, has received little empirical attention in this context. Moreover, the existing research has focused almost exclusively on sexual outcomes in childhood sexual abuse survivors, neglecting nonsexual touch and the role of positive emotional avoidance as a distinct regulatory pathway. This thesis presents a two-study program of research investigating the associations between CM severity, emotional avoidance, and physical touch capacity in adult romantic relationships. Study 1 provided proof-of-concept evidence that CM severity is associated with heightened physical touch anxiety, and that this association is partially explained by the avoidance of positive emotions — uniquely and above and beyond the avoidance of negative emotions. Study 2 extended this framework using structural equation modeling in an independent community sample, operationalizing sexual and nonsexual touch capacity and both forms of emotional avoidance as distinct latent constructs. Results revealed that CM severity was significantly associated with reduced sexual and nonsexual touch capacity through a theoretically novel cross-over pattern: negative emotional avoidance more strongly predicted sexual touch capacity, while positive emotional avoidance more strongly predicted nonsexual touch capacity. Both indirect pathways contributed comparably to nonsexual touch, and significant direct effects of CM persisted above and beyond emotional avoidance, suggesting additional mechanisms warrant investigation. Together, these findings advance the theoretical understanding of how CM disrupts physical intimacy through valence-specific and domain-specific affective mechanisms, with implications for trauma-informed assessment and intervention targeting both the reduction of threat-based responding and the cultivation of positive emotional openness in intimate relationships.