A study conducted at the University of Miami’s Touch Research Institute involving 17 aggressive adolescents were randomly assigned to a massage therapy group or a relaxation therapy group to receive 20-minute therapy sessions, twice a week for five weeks. The massaged adolescents had lower anxiety after the first and last sessions. By the end of the study, they also reported feeling less hostile and they were perceived by their parents as being less aggressive. Significant differences were not found for the adolescents who were assigned to the relaxation group.
The Touch Research Institute was formally established in 1992 by Director Tiffany Field, Ph.D. at the University Of Miami School Of Medicine via a start-up grant from Johnson & Johnson.
The TRI was the first center in the world devoted solely to the study of touch and its application in science and medicine. The TRI researchers located at universities across the nation seek to better define touch as it promotes health and contributes to the treatment of disease. Research efforts that began in 1982 and continue today have shown that touch therapy has numerous beneficial effects on health and well-being.
Sources:
Diego, M.A., Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., Shaw, J.A., Rothe, E.M., Castellanos, D. & Mesner, L. (2002). Aggressive adolescents benefit from massage therapy. Adolescence, 37, 597-607.
http://www6.miami.edu/touch-research/Massage.html