Ilona CroyCarina HellerGrace AkelloAfifa AnjumChiemezie AtamaAndreja AvsecBoris BizumicRicardo Borges RodriguesMahmoud BoussenaMarina ButovskayaSeda CanHakan CetinkayaJorge Contreras-GardunoRui Costa LopesMarcin CzubSlavka DemuthovaDaria DronovaSeda DuralOliver Ifeanyi EyaMokadem FatmaTomasz FrackowiakFarida GuemazIvana HromatkoKonstantinos KafetsiosTina KavcicImran KhiljiMagdalena KrukCatalin LazarTorun LindholmAmanda Londero-SantosConal MonaghanAnam ShahidBojan MusilJean Carlos NatividadeElisabeth OberzaucherAnna OleszkiewiczIke E. OnyishiCharity OnyishiAriela F. PaganiMiriam PariseKatarzyna PisanskiNejc PlohlCamelia PopaPavol ProkopMuhammad RizwanMario SainzRuta SargautyteShivantika SharadJaroslava ValentovaMarco VarellaBelkacem YakhlefGyesook YooGaja Zager KocjanMaja ZupancicAgnieszka Sorokowska2025-10-0620241069-39711552-357810.1177/10693971231174935http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/10693971231174935https://gcris.yasar.edu.tr/handle/123456789/7936The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the introduction of unprecedented safety measures one of them being physical distancing recommendations. Here we assessed whether the pandemic has led to long-term effects on two important physical distancing aspects namely interpersonal distance preferences and interpersonal touch behaviors. We analyzed nearly 14000 individual cases from two large cross-cultural surveys - the first conducted 2 years prior to the pandemic and the second during a relatively stable period of a decreased infection rate in May-June 2021. Preferred interpersonal distances increased by 54% globally during the COVID-19 pandemic. This increase was observable across all types of relationships all countries and was more pronounced in individuals with higher self-reported vulnerability to diseases. Unexpectedly participants reported a higher incidence of interpersonal touch behaviors during than before the pandemic. We discuss our results in the context of prosocial and self-protection motivations that potentially promote different social behaviors.Englishnonverbal communication, interpersonal distance preferences, interpersonal touch behaviors, COVID-19 pandemic, cross-cultural psychologyPERCEIVED VULNERABILITY, IMMUNE-SYSTEMArticle