Effects of Social Support by a Dog on Stress Modulation in Male Children with Insecure Attachment

Abstract

Up to 90% of children with special education needs and about 40% of children in the general population show insecure or disorganized attachment patterns, which are linked to a diminished ability to use social support by others for the regulation of stress. The aim of the study was to investigate if children with insecure-avoidant/disorganized attachment can profit more from social support by a dog compared to a friendly human during a stressful task. We investigated 47 male children (age 7–11) with insecure-avoidant or disorganized attachment. Social stress was elicited via the Trier Social Stress Test for Children (TSST-C). For one group of children a friendly therapy-dog (n = 24) was present, for one control group a friendly human (n = 10) and for the other control group a toy dog (n = 13). Stress levels of the children were measured via salivary cortisol at five times (t1–t5) before, during, and after the TSST-C and subjective reports. The physiological stress response was significantly lower in the dog condition in comparison to the two other support conditions at t4, t5 and the overall stress reaction from t1 to t5 (Area Under the Curve increase; Kruskal–Wallis H-Test, pairwise post hoc comparisons via Mann–Whitney U-Tests). Cortisol levels correlated negatively (rs) with the amount of physical contact between the child and dog. We conclude that male children with insecure-avoidant or disorganized attachment profit more from the presence of a therapy-dog than of a friendly human under social stress. Our findings support the assumption that the increasing practice of animal-assisted education is reasonable and that dogs can be helpful assistants in education/special education, since stress interferes with learning and performance in students.

Frequent cellular phone use modifies hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis response to a cellular phone call after mental stress in healthy children and adolescents: A pilot study

“…During both the mental stress and the cellular phone call participants who possess a cellular phone did not demonstrate a statistically significant decrease in their salivary cortisol levels in comparison to baseline, while non-owners did demonstrate a statistically significant decrease. In the international literature a down-regulation of the HPA axis response to mental stress has been described to be common in bullying victims (Beetz et al, 2012;Dorn et al, 2003). It has furthermore been associated to lower income and parental unemployment (Kraft and Luecken, 2009;Ockenfels et al, 1995) and/or insecure attachment (Beetz et al, 2012;Dorn et al, 2003;Gunnar et al, 2009).…”

“…In the international literature a down-regulation of the HPA axis response to mental stress has been described to be common in bullying victims (Beetz et al, 2012;Dorn et al, 2003). It has furthermore been associated to lower income and parental unemployment (Kraft and Luecken, 2009;Ockenfels et al, 1995) and/or insecure attachment (Beetz et al, 2012;Dorn et al, 2003;Gunnar et al, 2009). Moreover, it may reflect the adaptivity of the HPA-axis (Gunnar et al, 2009;Helmreich et al, 2005) or the increased sensitivity of the HPA axis (Koyu et al, 2005).…”

“…Salivary cortisol constitutes a non invasive and sensitive stress biomarker (Aardal-Eriksson et al, 1998;Laudat et al, 1988;Safar Zadeh et al, 2005;Schmidt, 1998;Vining et al, 1983aVining et al, , 1983b) that is repeatedly used in Trier Social Stress Test for Children (TSST-C) (Beetz et al, 2012;Pesonen et al, 2012;Sherzai et al, 2012). Trier Social Stress Test is a standardized experimental tool for stress assessment independent of individual's confounding factors such as personality, education, income, etc.…”

Pet ownership and physical health

“…In the Allen et al [51] and Polheber and Matchock [54] studies, the stress manipulation involved a challenging task that also required performing in the presence of human friends. Similarly, Beetz et al [56] tested 47 insecurely attached children with the child version of the Trier (TSST-C), randomly assigning children to an unfamiliar friendly dog condition, a toy dog, and a female graduate student condition. Salivary cortisol was significantly lower in the real dog condition compared with the other two conditions.…”

Investigating cruelty to animals in private and commercial settings

“…In research by Beetz et al (2012), male children with insecure-avoidant or disorganised attachment benefited more during social stress from the presence of a therapy dog than a friendly human.…”