Many adults still sleep with the blanket from their childhood. This tender secret relationship flourishes in the privacy of the bedroom, sometimes under the perplexed gaze of a spouse caught up in the force of circumstances. The official rule is clear: the duvet is reserved for the little ones. And adults who never give up theirs don’t brag about it. It is therefore difficult to count them, even if it is estimated that they would still be almost one in two.
A researcher at the University of Aix-Marseille, however, delved into the topic during a large study among people of all genders and all ages. Good news: his conclusions will bring relief to adults whose teddy bear is hidden under the bed and only discreetly joins them at nightfall.
Many adults have never forgotten their cuddly toy
Is the teddy bear the ideal anti-stress companion? This is the question asked by Anne-Sophie Tribot, a researcher at the University of Aix Marseille. To respond, you invited a team of scientists from the CNRS to conduct a large-scale study. In all, 12,000 people were asked to describe their feelings in front of a foreign duvet, then their good old teddy bear.
When the object does not belong to them, the people questioned attach importance above all to its appearance, its softness or its size, which are generic selection criteria. When they have to describe their original cuddly toy, they focus more on its smell, its grip and their sensations.
This difference in perception would reveal the strong emotional impact of soft toys, for life:
The perception of comfort in a teddy bear therefore does not change over a lifetime, and is not affected by a gender stereotype effect, unlike other childhood objects such as dolls or fire trucks.
Extract from the study published in the journal Elle.fr
What is a comforter for, besides collecting germs?
In psychological jargon, the comforter is called a transitional object.. As a bridge between the family bubble and the outside world, children take it everywhere with them to find familiar comfort and soothe their anxieties of separation. However, these anxieties are not reserved for children and adults are confronted with them on a regular basis. Taking the bear out of the closet is a good way to manage his anxieties and regain that feeling of security that we sometimes lack.
If this study makes you smile, it’s far less futile than it sounds as it implicitly questions the mechanics of anxiety and ways to alleviate it:
This work opens up promising avenues for the study of the psychological functioning of individuals thanks to teddy bears, but above all it suggests a form of predictability of their comforting power, which could allow us to expand the list of uses, for example, at school, in the hospital, at the work, during negotiations, in a crisis situation.
Extract from the study published in the journal Elle.fr
It’s time to unbox our soft toys and make room for them in our bed. It reassures and doesn’t hurt anyone, why deprive yourself of it?
Source: Madmoizelle
Mary Crossley is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. She is a seasoned journalist who is dedicated to delivering the latest news to her readers. With a keen sense of what’s important, Mary covers a wide range of topics, from politics to lifestyle and everything in between.
