AUTHOR=Beetz Andrea , Julius Henri , Turner Dennis , Kotrschal Kurt 

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

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=3

YEAR=2012

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00352

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00352

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<p>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 (<italic>n </italic>= 24) was present, for one control group a friendly human (<italic>n </italic>= 10) and for the other control group a toy dog (<italic>n </italic>= 13). Stress levels of the children were measured via salivary cortisol at five times (<italic>t</italic>1–<italic>t</italic>5) 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 <italic>t</italic>4, <italic>t</italic>5 and the overall stress reaction from <italic>t</italic>1 to <italic>t</italic>5 (Area Under the Curve increase; Kruskal–Wallis <italic>H</italic>-Test, pairwise <italic>post hoc</italic> comparisons via Mann–Whitney <italic>U</italic>-Tests). Cortisol levels correlated negatively (<italic>r</italic><sub>s</sub>) 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.</p>