Is children’s body pleasant or aversive for parents?: Comparison of parental perception to body and bodily products of children

Abstract

International audienceThe present study aimed to compare Japanese and French parents’ perception of contact with body and bodily products of their children under 11 years. They completed questionnaire about the degree of pleasure-aversion to their children’s body and bodily products. The results indicate that French parents’ perception was more intense both in positive and negative directions compared to Japanese parents. For the Japanese parents, children’s bodily products were relatively less aversive than the French parents, and those of the infants’ were particularly so. The Japanese parents’ pleasure by physical contact with children reduced after 5 years of age. The Japanese fathers were unique in the remarkable correlations between the aversion and child-care attitude scores. The meanings of the cultural differences were discussed