Biomaterial Database

Gender and national differences in attitudes toward same-gender touch. 1994

F N Willis, and V A Rawdon

Psychology Department, University of Missouri-Kansas City 64110.

Women have been reported to be more positive about same-gender touch, but cross-cultural information about this touch is limited. Male and female students from Chile (n = 26), Spain (n = 61), Malaysia (n = 32), and the US (n = 77) completed a same-gender touch scale. As in past studies, US women had more positive scores than US men. Malaysians had more negative scores than the other three groups. Spanish and US students had more positive scores than Chilean students. National differences in attitudes toward particular types of touch were also noted. The need for new methods for examining cross-cultural differences in touch was discussed.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008296	Malaysia	A parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarch in southeast Asia, consisting of 11 states (West Malaysia) on the Malay Peninsula and two states (East Malaysia) on the island of BORNEO. It is also called the Federation of Malaysia. Its capital is Kuala Lumpur. Before 1963 it was the Union of Malaya. It reorganized in 1948 as the Federation of Malaya, becoming independent from British Malaya in 1957 and becoming Malaysia in 1963 as a federation of Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore (which seceded in 1965). The form Malay- probably derives from the Tamil malay, mountain, with reference to its geography. (From Webster's New Geographical Dictionary, 1988, p715 & Room, Brewer's Dictionary of Names, 1992, p329)	Federation of Malaya,Malay Federation,Malay Peninsula,Malaya,Malaya Federation,Sabah,Sarawak
D008297	Male		Males
D010550	Personal Space	Invisible boundaries surrounding the individual's body which are maintained in relation to others.	Body Buffer Zone,Privacy of Space,Peripersonal Space,Body Buffer Zones,Buffer Zone, Body,Buffer Zones, Body,Peripersonal Spaces,Personal Spaces,Space Privacy,Space, Peripersonal,Space, Personal,Spaces, Peripersonal,Spaces, Personal,Zone, Body Buffer,Zones, Body Buffer
D010555	Personality Inventory	Check list, usually to be filled out by a person about himself, consisting of many statements about personal characteristics which the subject checks.	Edwards Personal Preference Schedule,Myers-Briggs Type Indicator,Indicator, Myers-Briggs Type,Inventories, Personality,Inventory, Personality,Myers Briggs Type Indicator,Personality Inventories
D002677	Chile	A country in southern South America, bordering the South Pacific Ocean, between Argentina and Peru.
D003431	Cross-Cultural Comparison	Comparison of various psychological, sociological, or cultural factors in order to assess the similarities or diversities occurring in two or more different cultures or societies.	Transcultural Studies,Comparison, Cross-Cultural,Comparisons, Cross-Cultural,Cross Cultural Comparison,Cross-Cultural Comparisons,Studies, Transcultural,Study, Transcultural,Transcultural Study
D005260	Female		Females
D005783	Gender Identity	A person's concept of self as being male and masculine or female and feminine, or ambivalent, based in part on physical characteristics, parental responses, and psychological and social pressures. It is the internal experience of gender role.	Gender,Gender Identities,Identity, Gender
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000328	Adult	A person having attained full growth or maturity. Adults are of 19 through 44 years of age. For a person between 19 and 24 years of age, YOUNG ADULT is available.	Adults