'Touch hunger': trajectory and predictors of longing for physical contact during the COVID-19 pandemic in people with and without depressive, anxiety, or obsessive-compulsive disorders

BACKGROUND: Little is known about 'touch hunger' (longing for physical contact) during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly for people with pre-existing mental health disorders. We aimed to 1) explore whether touch hunger differs between people with and without depressive, anxiety, or obsessive-compulsive disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic, 2) study the development of touch hunger in relation to loneliness, and 3) examine its predictors during lockdown. METHODS: Data were aggregated from three Dutch ongoing prospective cohorts with similar methodology for data collection. We included participants with pre-pandemic data gathered during 2006-2016, and who completed up to 9 online questionnaires between October 2020 and February 2022. Touch hunger trajectories were analyzed using linear mixed models. Sociodemographics, personality traits, (chronicity of) mental health disorders, and COVID-19-related factors were analyzed as predictors of touch hunger using multivariate linear regression analyses. RESULTS: We included 1061 participants with (n = 811) and without (n = 250) mental health disorders. In all chronicity groups, touch hunger increased during lockdown and decreased after lockdown. Extraversion (β = 0.256, P < 0.001), social distancing due to COVID-19 anxiety (β = 0.122, P = 0.001), and death of a close contact from COVID-19 (β = 0.073, P = 0.02) predicted higher touch hunger, while living with a partner (β = -0.109, P = 0.004) or with a partner and children (β = -0.147, P < 0.001) were protective factors for touch hunger. Remarkably, pre-pandemic psychiatric diagnosis did not predict touch hunger during lockdown. CONCLUSIONS: Touch hunger rose during the lockdown and was widespread regardless of mental health conditions, indicating a fundamental human need for physical contact, especially among extroverts.