Study gets up close and personal to explain frequency of French kissing
How often people French kiss is linked in income inequality, according to a worldwide study by Scottish researchers.
The cross-cultural study, which involved 2,300 participants from 13 different countries across six continents, found snogging goes up when equality goes down.
Psychologists from Abertay University in Dundee, who conducted the study, said the with-tongues style of kissing had been “shown to be related to the quality of a romantic relationship” – and people do it more in environments where they have less to fall back on. A gesture which shows commitment to a relationship is seen as of greater value.
Respondents answered a range of questions, including how often they French kissed their partner and how important they thought kissing was.
Psychologists revealed people who lived in less equal nations said they kissed their partners more often. This correlation did not extend to other forms of intimacy such as hugging and sexual intercourse.
Lead researcher Dr Christopher Watkins said: “The results of this research suggest that the environment we live in is related to differences in this particular form of romantic intimacy.
“French kissing has been shown by others to be related to the quality of a romantic relationship and our data suggests that we do this more in environments where we have less to fall back on, where a gesture which shows commitment to a relationship would be of greater value.
“Another interesting factor is that across the nations surveyed, kissing was considered more important at the established phase of a relationship compared to the initial stages of romantic attraction.” The study also found differences in opinions between men and women on the importance of kissing and about what makes a good kiss.
They found that a good kiss consisted of two components – sensory factors, such as pleasantness of body odour and breath, and ‘technique, contact and arousal’. Women, on average, placed greater importance than men on sensory factors.