The Effect of a Real Dog, Toy Dog and Friendly Person on Insecurely Attached Children During a Stressful Task: An Exploratory Study
The Effect of a Real Dog, Toy Dog and Friendly Person on Insecurely Attached Children During a Stressful Task: An Exploratory Study
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DOI：
10.2752/175303711x13159027359746
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发表时间：
2011-12-01
期刊：
影响因子：
1.6
通讯作者：
Julius, Henri
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Beetz, Andrea;Kotrschalt, Kurt;Julius, Henri
依恋对象对压力的调节是依恋关系的一个重要特征。先前的研究表明，在某些情况下，动物陪伴可能被视为一种依恋关系。这对于具有不安全或无组织依恋模式的人来说可能特别重要，他们可能会发现比安全依恋的人更难接受来自人类的社会支持。在我们的研究中，我们调查了31名男孩（7-12岁）的不安全/混乱的附件是否会受益于狗（n = 11）比友好的人（n = 11）或玩具狗（n = 9）的存在作为支持在社会压力的情况下（特里尔儿童社会压力测试，TSST-C）。通过唾液皮质醇记录前，期间和TSST-C后五次的压力水平进行了评估。孩子们的行为是通过录像记录下来的。自我报告的压力水平在TSST-C之前和之后没有显着差异。然而，唾液皮质醇在真实的狗条件下显著低于其他两种条件下（曲线下面积增加（AUCi）的Kruskal-Wallis H检验：chi（2）= 15.17，df = 2，p = 0.001）。此外，孩子们抚摸狗的次数越多，他们的应激反应就越不明显（r（s）=-0.818，p = 0.002）。我们的数据表明，身体接触的压力减少效果的重要作用。我们的结论是，儿童调查受益更多的互动与友好的狗比与任何一个人或玩具狗在紧张的情况下。我们讨论了我们的研究结果的动物辅助干预的相关性。
The regulation of stress by an attachment figure is a key feature of attachment relationships. Previous research suggests that in some cases animal companionship may be regarded as an attachment relationship. This may be particularly important for persons with an insecure or disorganized attachment pattern who may find it more difficult than securely attached individuals to accept social support from humans. In our study, we investigated whether 31 boys (aged 7-12 years) with insecure/disorganized attachment would profit more from the presence of a dog (n = 11) than of a friendly human (n = 11) or a toy dog (n = 9) as support during a socially stressful situation (Trier Social Stress Test for Children, TSST-C). Stress levels were assessed via salivary cortisol recorded five times before, during, and after the TSST-C. The behavior of the children was coded from video recordings. Self-reported stress levels did not significantly differ between the groups before and after the TSST-C. Salivary cortisol, however, was significantly lower in the real dog condition than in the other two conditions (Kruskal-Wallis H test on area under the curve increase (AUCi): chi(2) = 15.17, df = 2, p = 0.001). Also, the more the children stroked the dog, the less pronounced was their stress reaction (r(s) = -0.818, p = 0.002). Our data suggest an important role of physical contact in the stress reducing effect. We conclude that the children investigated profited more from interacting with a friendly dog than with either a human or a toy dog in a stressful situation. We discuss the relevance of our findings for animal-assisted interventions.