(This posting includes a handout LINK AT THE END OF THIS POST which you are welcome to use with your students.) *

People think close family members smell worse compared to the smell of strangers, according to recent research. And there is an interesting reason for this.

Most studies about recognizing human smells (odors) looked at mothers and their newborn babies. The studies found that they recognized each other’s odors soon after birth. However, a team of researchers wanted to know how well other family members could recognize the smell of each other.

Twenty-five families with at least two children between 6 and 15 years old volunteered for the study. The participants were given special T-shirts and soap that had no odors. They slept in the T-shirts for three nights. Each morning, they put the T-shirts in special bags and then washed themselves with only the special odorless soap (in other words, soap that has no smell).

Next, researchers asked everyone to sniff with their nose two T-shirts. One of the shirts was worn by a family member and the other by someone they didn’t know and was not a relative. The researchers asked mothers and fathers if they could identify which shirt was their children’s, and asked children if they could tell which was their parents’ or siblings’. In addition, they asked which odor they preferred.

Here are the results: (See complete article below.)

For background information about these articles and for suggestions for how to use them with your students, see  • Introducing “Short, High-Interest Readings”  Also, I’ll be adding more of these articles in the right-hand column: ESL Reading> Short, High Interest Articles for Extensive Readings

Here is the 9th article. You can download the article for your students by clicking on the link at the end. Also included are three optional exercises: True-False Questions; Paraphrasing Exercise; Reflection Exercise.

                                An Important Reason Why Teenagers Stink

People think close family members smell worse compared to the smell of strangers, according to recent research. And there is an interesting reason for this.

Most studies about recognizing human smells (odors) looked at mothers and their newborn babies. The studies found that they recognized each other’s odors soon after birth. However, a team of researchers wanted to know how well other family members could recognize the smell of each other.

Twenty-five families with at least two children between 6 and 15 years old volunteered for the study. The participants were given special T-shirts and soap that had no odors. They slept in the T-shirts for three nights. Each morning, they put the T-shirts in special bags and then washed themselves with only the special odorless soap (in other words, soap that has no smell).

Next, researchers asked everyone to sniff with their nose two T-shirts. One of the shirts was worn by a family member and the other by someone they didn’t know and was not a relative. The researchers asked mothers and fathers if they could identify which shirt was their children’s, and asked children if they could tell which was their parents’ or siblings’. In addition, they asked which odor they preferred.

Here are the results:

Both mothers and fathers recognized their pre-adolescent children, those between 5 and 12 years old. However, they couldn’t say which of their children had worn the T-shirts.

Young pre-adolescent children between 5 to 8 did not recognize their mother’s odor, but older children between 9 to 15 did. All the children recognized their father’s smell.

Now we come to some of the most interesting results about which smells they liked or didn’t like. The volunteers preferred the smells of people they didn’t know much more than the odor of their own family members. Mothers especially disliked their children’s smells, and children strongly disliked their father’s odor.

The researchers think that there is a good reason why family members dislike the smell of each other. This dislike can help prevent incest. In other words, it can stop parents from having sex with their children.  Interestingly, brothers and sisters disliked each other’s smells, but same-sex siblings (sisters and sisters or brothers and brothers) were fine with each other’s smells. This may also stop brothers and sisters from having sex with each other.

Finally, researchers think that another reason children strongly dislike their father’s odor could be because this could make it easier for older children to become independent from their fathers.

Here is the link to the article and exercises that you can use with your students: An Important Reason Why Teenagers Stink ARTICLE EXERCISES

David Kehe
Faculty Emeritus

*About the free-download materials. During my 40 years of teaching ESL, I have had many colleagues who were very generous with their time, advice and materials. These downloads are my way of paying it forward.