A child's best friend: Behavioral, neural, and endocrinological mechanisms of longitudinal social bond formation and stress buffering effects in children and pet dogs

项目摘要 本项目提案的目标是推进我们对纵向运动的机制的理解， 儿童与其宠物狗之间社会关系的发展。社会纽带的力量 儿童和他们的宠物狗被认为是调解积极的治疗效果，有一个宠物狗，但 这些社会联系的纵向发展所涉及的机制尚未得到很好的描述。的 这项研究的总体目标是确定儿童和他们的宠物狗之间的社会联系是如何发展的， 并研究这些社会纽带的抗焦虑作用，以便更有效地促进儿童健康， 幸福该项目的具体目标是：1）评估社会联系强度之间的关系， 催产素水平，以及狗和儿童的社会奖励相关脑回路内的功能反应，以及2） 为了确定社会联系强度是否与皮质醇水平和内部功能连接有关， 狗和儿童与压力相关的脑回路。这些目标将通过评估社会变革来实现。 在四个时间点上，儿童-狗对之间的结合强度：在狗被收养的一周内， 收养后，收养后五个月，收养后八个月。在每个时间点，社会联系 力量将通过行为任务来测量，唾液样本将从孩子和孩子身上收集。 狗在开始和结束的行为测试会议，以衡量在整个激素水平的变化， 上网时段在行为测试后，将使用功能磁共振成像技术测量大脑活动。通过 整合的行为，内分泌，和神经的方法，我们将获得一个完整的观点， 在孩子和狗的二元关系中，社会纽带形成的纵向过程可以在更广泛的范围内推广。 人口这项拟议的研究与国家儿童健康和人类发展研究所的 儿童发展和行为分支的人类动物互动的使命，提高生活的 孩子这项研究的结果将直接影响儿童的福祉，使我们能够更好地了解 随着时间的推移，儿童和宠物狗之间形成社会联系的机制， 为未来临床人群提供治疗结果的基础。

Project Summary The goal of this project proposal is to advance our understanding of the mechanisms that underlie longitudinal social bond development in children and their pet dogs. The strength of the social bonds that form between children and their pet dogs is thought to mediate the positive therapeutic effects of having a pet dog, yet the mechanisms involved in the longitudinal development of these social bonds are not well characterized. The overall objective of this study is to determine how social bonds between children and their pet dogs develop, and to examine the anxiolytic effects of these social bonds in order to more effectively facilitate child health and wellbeing. The specific aims of this project are 1) to assess the relationship between social bond strength, oxytocin levels, and functional responses within social reward-related brain circuits in dogs and children, and 2) to determine whether social bond strength is associated with cortisol levels and functional connectivity within stress-related brain circuits in dogs and children. These aims will be achieved by assessing changes in social bond strength between child-dog dyads across four timepoints: within one week of dog adoption, two months post-adoption, five months post-adoption, and eight months post-adoption. At each timepoint, social bond strength will be measured via a behavioral task, and salivary samples will be collected from the child and the dog at the start and end of the behavioral testing session to measure changes in hormone level throughout the session. Brain activity will be measured following behavioral testing using fMRI techniques. Through the integration of behavioral, endocrinological, and neural methodologies, we will obtain a full perspective of the longitudinal process of social bond formation in child-dog dyads that can be generalized across the broader population. The proposed study aligns with the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development’s Child Development and Behavior Branch of Human Animal Interaction’s mission of enhancing the lives of children. The results of this study will directly influence child wellbeing by allowing us to better understand the mechanisms involved in the formation of social bonds between children and pet dogs over time, which will lay the foundation for informing therapeutic outcomes in future clinical populations.