Oosterwijk TAT, Borg CC, van Dijk MWGM. Age-related differences in self-reported disgust toward core disgust, sex-related, and food stimuli.
J Adolesc 2022;
94:293-304. [PMID:
35390203 DOI:
10.1002/jad.12013]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2021] [Accepted: 01/12/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION
While disgust is functional in preventing contagion from pathogens, it also plays a role in various psychopathologies. Disgust responses toward dirt, bodily secretions, certain types of food, and sexual stimuli typically emerge during (early) childhood. However, there is a lack of research on how disgust develops. This cross-sectional study investigated whether there are age-related differences in subjective, self-reported disgust between early and late adolescence and whether there are differences for distinctive types of disgust (core-disgust, sex-related, food-related).
METHODS
Using an online survey, 240 Dutch children (116 female, 124 male) aged 9 through 16 years rated the extent to which they found the different types of stimuli disgusting or not on a VAS scale.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS
The results showed that only the disgust responses to sex-related stimuli decreased with age, whereas disgust toward the other categories did not show any age-related differences. Overall girls reported somewhat higher disgust ratings than boys for sex-related stimuli, but not for the other categories. The present study offers important new angles for future research, which might further disentangle the mechanisms through which the changes occur.
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