Sniffing out emotion: Basic emotions elicited by odors in children and adolescents

Odors are closely linked to emotions, yet there is limited understanding of how specific odors elicit emotions in children and adolescents. This study aims to analyze the number and types of important odors reported by children and adolescents and to explore sex- and age-related differences in how specific odors are linked to basic emotions. A total of 197 participants (100 boys, 97 girls) aged 11–17 were asked to name odors that elicit specific emotion, and verbal fluency was tested for control purpose. Mann–Whitney analysis showed that girls named more odors that were important to them than boys. Word content analysis showed sex-specific patterns that boys associated “food” odors with happiness more than girls, and girls more often linked sadness to “nature” odors. Furthermore, the emotion-odor association changed over development, with older adolescents showing patterns closer to those observed in adults. These findings highlight age- and sex-related variations in olfactory-emotional connections, reflecting developmental changes in odor-emotion linkages.