Pets & children

The effects of the presence of a companion animal on physiological arousal and behavioral distress in children

anthrozoology — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 14:36:21 +1100

Nagengast, S. L., M. M. Baun, M. Megel, and J. M. Leibowitz.

Journal of Pediatric Nursing, v. 12, p. 323-30, 1997.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the presence of a companion animal on physiological arousal and behavioral distress exhibited by preschool children during a routine physical examination. A within-subject, time-series design was used to study 23 healthy children ages 3 years to 6 years during two physical examinations, with and without a dog. Statistically significant differences were found with greater reductions in subjects' systolic and mean arterial pressure, heart rate, and behavioral distress when the dog was present. Findings support the use of a companion animal in reducing stress experienced by children during a physical examination.

Preschoolers Make Fewer Errors on an Object Categorization Task in the Presence of a Dog

anthrozoology — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:00:26 +1000

Preschoolers Make Fewer Errors on an Object Categorization Task in the Presence of a Dog
Gee, Nancy R.; Church, Meredith T.; Altobelli, Christie L.

Anthrozoos: A Multidisciplinary Journal of The Interactions of People & Animals, Volume 23, Number 3, September 2010 , pp. 223-230(8)

Previous research has shown that the presence of a dog can positively impact the speed at which preschoolers perform motor skills tasks and also their ability to adhere to instructions. The current study focused on the execution of a cognitive task—object categorization—by developmentally delayed and typical preschool children in the presence of a real dog, a stuffed dog, or a human. The real dog involved in this study was a Miniature Poodle. The children (n = 12) were asked to complete a match-to-sample task in which they had to choose a picture of an object that “goes with” another. Three categories of object exemplars were used: taxonomic, thematic, and irrelevant. The presence of the real dog resulted in significantly fewer irrelevant choices than either the stuffed dog or the human conditions. Additionally, results in this experiment were consistent with previous research, showing a developmental shift where younger children were more likely to make taxonomic than thematic choices, with the reverse true of the older children. These results indicate that the presence of the real dog does not appear to alter typical performance patterns seen in object categorization, but the fact that fewer errors were made in the presence of the dog indicates that the presence of the dog does have a positive impact on performance of this cognitive task. The authors discuss several possible explanations for this outcome.

Preschool Children Require Fewer Instructional Prompts to Perform a Memory Task in the Presence of a Dog

anthrozoology — Thu, 20 May 2010 13:52:20 +1000

Gee, Nancy R.; Crist, Elise N.; Carr, Daniel N.

Anthrozoos: A Multidisciplinary Journal of The Interactions of People & Animals, Volume 23, Number 2, June 2010

This paper presents two experiments that examined memory performance and adherence to instructions for a group of preschool children (n = 12) in the presence of a well-behaved real dog, a stuffed dog, and a human confederate. The children were shown 10 objects in each condition. At test, the children were shown each original object along with a distracter and asked to select the one they had seen before.

As we expected, object recognition performance was at ceiling and no effects were significant. Instructional prompts were recorded in two ways: General prompts included general instructions like "Face this way," whereas Task Specific prompts directed the child to perform specific aspects of the task like "Pick one of these objects." The first experiment involved the use of three-dimensional objects and we found that for both types of prompts, fewer prompts were needed in the Real Dog condition, followed by the Stuffed Dog condition, and the greatest number of prompts was needed in the Human condition.

Childhood asthma and early life exposure to indoor allergens, endotoxin and beta (1,3)-glucans.

anthrozoology — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 11:04:25 +1100

Bertelsen, R. J.; Carlsen, K. C. L.; Carlsen, K. H.; Granum, B.; Doekes, G.; Haland, G.; Mowinckel, P.; Lovik, M.;

A Comparison of Maltreated Children and Non-Maltreated Children on Their Experiences with Animals-A Japanese Study

anthrozoology — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:34:02 +1100

Yamazaki, Sakiko

Effects of Having Pets at Home on Children's Attitudes toward Popular and Unpopular Animals

anthrozoology — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:30:07 +1100

Prokop, Pavol; Tunnicliffe, Sue Dale

Empathic Differences in Adults as a Function of Childhood and Adult Pet Ownership and Pet Type

anthrozoology — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:29:31 +1100

Daly, Beth; Morton, L.L.

Anthrozoos: A Multidisciplinary Journal of The Interactions of People & Animals, Volume 22, Number 4, December 2009

Prompted by interesting but ambiguous findings that empathic differences in children may relate to pet preference and ownership, we extended the issue to an adult population. We investigated empathic-type responses in adults who lived with cats and/or dogs in childhood (Child-Pet) and currently (Adult-Pet), using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), the Empathy Quotient (EQ), and the Animal Attitude Scale (AAS).

Social and Individual Components of Animal Contact in Preschool Children

anthrozoology — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:14:09 +1100

Wedl, Manuela; Kotrschal, Kurt

Anthrozoos: A Multidisciplinary Journal of The Interactions of People & Animals, Volume 22, Number 4, December 2009

Humans are generally biophilic. Still, for unknown reasons, interest in animals varies substantially among individuals. Our goal was to investigate how differential interest of children towards animals might be related to social competence and personality. We proposed two alternatives: 1) Children may compensate for potential deficits in social competence by resorting to animals, and 2) Socially well-connected children may show a particular interest in animals. We focused on relationships between age, gender, family background, play behavior, personality components, and contact with rabbits in 50 children (22 boys/28 girls; 3 to 7 years of age) at a preschool in Krems/Austria. Data were analyzed using GLM. We found that each one of these variables had significant impact on intensity of engagement with the rabbits. In general, girls, children with siblings, and children without pets were more oriented towards the rabbits than were boys, children without siblings, or pet-owning children. The older the children, the less frequently they occupied themselves with the rabbits but the longer they remained when they did engage them. Furthermore, we found that the more "Confident/Respected" (PCA factor 1) and less "Patient/Calm," "Cheerful/Sociable," and "Solitary" (PCA factors 2-4) the children, the more time they spent in direct occupation with rabbits. Most effects of the investigated variables varied between boys and girls. By and large, our findings support the hypothesis that the "socially competent" children were particularly interested in the animals. Also, children's social styles, as evinced in interactions with peers, were generally reflected in how they interacted with the rabbits.

An investigation into the prevalence of dog bites to primary school children in Trinidad.

anthrozoology — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:52:13 +1100

Georges K. Adesiyun A.

Preschoolers' adherence to instructions as a function of presence of a dog and motor skills task.

anthrozoology — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:23:58 +1100

Gee, N. R.; Sherlock, T. R.; Bennett, E. A.; Harris, S. L.;

Pets &amp; children