I’ve been unable to locate a good recent source of statistics on adult thumb sucking. Since the habit is considered socially unacceptable, it’s hard to tell how many adults suck their thumbs and any other characteristics linked to thumb sucking. Here are a couple of interesting blurbs I was able to find:
A number of years ago, The Wall Street Journal ran a story on how up to 10 percent of adults still suck their thumbs…
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And just who are these approximately 10 percent of adult thumb suckers?
Nobody presumes to guesstimate numbers with any degree of accuracy, but a Fullerton, Calif., dentist has 400 patients who are thumb-suckers, one New York psychoanalyst, Dr. Eleanor Galenson, reports her patients include a bank executive, a college professor and “thumb-sucking is very common among stockbrokers.”
Source
How about these statistics on adult thumb suckers from a 1999 web survey?
It’s apparent that those of you who respond are two thirds female and only one third male… The predominant associated comfort behavior is placing the finger over the nose… Roughly one in four respondants masturbate while sucking their thumb… Among our respondants there is an equal percentage that were and were not breast fed.
Source
Interesting percentage and breakdown of adult thumb sucking, huh? I wish there were more data about the percentage of adults who are thumbsuckers. Know of any recent polls or studies? Let me know!
i am 18 yrs old it is very tough to leave thumbsucking.i can’t sleep without thumbsucking
I’m kaydence and I dont suck my thumb. but I suck my index finger and I’ve done it for as long as I can remember.and my family thinks it’s nasty and immature but it gives me comfort so I don’t see what’s wrong with it.
I would never admit to people that I suck my thumb as an adult. There are about 5 or 6 people who are close family and friends who know I suck my thumb and that is it. I suck my thumb every day. Most of the time it’s just at night but there are days when I’m so tired that I find myself sucking my thumb at work or in the car I manage to hide it though, and if you know it’s because I’ve let you into my very close circle of friends. It’s not even that I mind people knowing, it has no reflection on my personality, it is just something I do when I’m tired to either settle me to sleep or to wake me up when I’m falling asleep at work. When I met my boyfriend I didn’t tell him for 6 months but when he found out he said it’s really common, he’d had at least 3 previous girldgriends doing the same thing and he thought it was cute. No ones ever asked me if I sucked my thumb, so I’m not incl. in any statisitics, but I’d say 10% of the female population do it. That’s just based on p-eople I’ve spotted doing it.
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