Elternschaft „impft“ Erwachsene gegen Ekel, wie eine neue Studie zeigt. Wiederholte, langfristige Exposition gegenüber Körperausscheidungen reduziert die Ekelreaktionen der Eltern erheblich, mit Auswirkungen, die über einen längeren Zeitraum anhalten. Dies kann auch für Arbeitnehmer in Berufen relevant sein, in denen der Umgang mit Ekel zu ihren Aufgaben gehört.
https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2026/january/parenthood-inoculates-adults-against-disgust.html
6 Kommentare
As somebody who worked in a piggery when they were younger, it was amazing preparation for parenthood.
**Parenthood ‘inoculates’ adults against disgust, new study reveals**
From nappy changes to nursing care, exposure to unpleasant substances is a daily reality for millions of people but how does the brain adapt? New research from neuroscientists at the University of Bristol reveals that **repeated, long-term exposure to bodily waste significantly reduces parents’ disgust responses, with effects that persist over time.**
The findings, published in the Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, offer fresh insight into how caregiving reshapes the brain and **could help inform strategies to support workers in professions where managing disgust is part of the job.**
Many professions require regular contact with unpleasant substances, including bodily waste, making some roles difficult to recruit and retain staff. Researchers from Bristol sought to better understand how disgust functions, with the aim of identifying ways to help people cope with it more effectively.
“Parenthood dramatically increases exposure to these substances, and people do not choose to become, or stop being, parents based on disgust. This makes it an ideal ‘natural experiment’ for studying how disgust changes over time.”
As expected, non-parents showed strong avoidance of images depicting bodily waste. Parents, however, displayed a strikingly different pattern but only once their children had begun eating solid food.
Parents of weaning or weaned children showed little to no behavioural avoidance of soiled nappies or even general bodily effluvia. Their disgust response appeared noticeably reduced, suggesting that prolonged, unavoidable exposure had led to desensitisation. Importantly, this reduced disgust was not limited to child-related stimuli but generalised to other forms of bodily waste.
In contrast, parents whose youngest children were still exclusively milk-fed showed levels of disgust avoidance similar to those of non-parents, even if they had older children. This unexpected finding suggests that disgust may remain heightened during the earliest stage of infancy, when babies are particularly vulnerable to illness.
The researchers believe this pattern may reflect an evolutionary adaptive response. Heightened disgust during the milk-feeding stage could help reduce disease risk for young infants, while later desensitisation allows parents to care for their children when they are ill.
For those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/sjop.70069
when i was studying nursing (i was a middle age dude changing careers) when it came to basic care like changing a diaper i was in the weeds and everyone was like „stupid man never changed a diaper“ when in reality it was stupid man stupid because he is childless.
You get used to doing something if you do it often enough…… No way!? Really?
IDK I’m a parent of 2 who has changed many a diaper (with one still in diapers) but the thought of changing an elderly person’s diaper is still pretty disgusting to me
That was my experience. Had a pretty weak stomach when it comes to “bodily fluids” and would regularly gag over things I considered gross. Then I became a dad and I guess this phenomenon kicked in because that stuff just doesn’t affect me any more. (Kiddo is about to turn 18)