Salivary Oxytocin Concentration Changes during a Group Drumming Intervention for Maltreated School Children

Abstract

Many emotionally-disturbed children who have been maltreated and are legally separated from their parents or primary caregivers live in group homes and receive compulsory education. Such institutions provide various special intervention programs. Taiko-ensou, a Japanese style of group drumming, is one such program because playing drums in a group may improve children’s emotional well-being. However, evidence for its efficacy has not been well established at the biological level. In this study, we measured salivary levels of oxytocin (OT), a neuropeptide associated with social memory and communication, in three conditions (recital, practice, and free sessions) in four classes of school-aged children. Following the sessions, OT concentrations showed changes in various degrees and directions (no change, increases, or decreases). The mean OT concentration changes after each session increased, ranging from 112% to 165%. Plasma OT concentrations were equally sensitive to drum playing in school-aged boys and girls. However, the difference between practice and free play sessions was only significant among elementary school boys aged 8–12 years. The results suggest that younger boys are most responsive to this type of educational music intervention.

Sex Differences in Salivary Oxytocin and Cortisol Concentration Changes during Cooking in a Small Group

“…Saliva was collected during the first 10 min. At 2 to 5 min after participants rinsed their mouths with water, when their mouths were filled with newly secreted saliva, they bit down on a sterile 15-mL polypropylene tube (Greiner Bio-one Co. Ltd., Tokyo, Japan) and secreted saliva directly into the tube by chewing for 2–4 min [ 40 , 41 ]. This method was less stressful than using a cotton swab.…”

“…The saliva samples (approximately 0.5–1.0 mL) in polypropylene tubes were kept on ice. They were then immediately frozen and stored at −80°C, as described previously [ 41 ]. At the assay time, they were thawed and centrifuged twice at 4 °C at 1500× g for 15 min.…”

“…Furthermore, OT concentrations in the CSF or extracellular fluid correlated positively with OT concentrations in blood plasma after experimentally induced stress, though baseline concentrations in blood may be reflected less in those in CSF [ 33 ]. As invasive methods are hard to apply in living humans, an alternative more practical non-invasive method is to measure OT concentrations in blood or salivary samples [ 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 ].…”

“…In another case, we recently examined the biological effects of Japanese taiko drumming in a group as part of an educational intervention for children who are emotionally disturbed because of maltreatment. Taiko drumming can apparently improve the social behavior of these children, as judged by caregivers and school teachers [ 41 ]. Our results showed that the children’s mean salivary OT concentrations increased to various degrees after the recital but not much rehearsals.…”

“…Our results showed that the children’s mean salivary OT concentrations increased to various degrees after the recital but not much rehearsals. Group musical instrumental playing and choir singing are also reported to improve cognitive function, communication, impaired behavior, and mood [ 40 , 41 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 ], although the effects are not always consistent [ 59 ]. Therefore, we need to re-ask the question how group activity is simply comfortable to people by monitoring biomarkers, from the view of stress produced by group activity.…”