New Research to Study Effects of Dogs on Children’s Stress

Results of a just-published study led by researchers at The University of Western Australia and Telethon Kids Institute and funded by the Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI) demonstrate that young children from dog-owning households are less likely to experience difficulties with their emotions and social interactions compared to children in households without a pet dog. The study was published in the journal Pediatric Research. “Our research found that having a family dog in the household was positively associated with young children’s social-emotional development,” said Dr. Hayley Christian, Associate Professor at The University of Western Australia and Telethon Kids Institute and Principal Investigator of the study. “Our research also supports spending time walking and playing with the dog for added benefits, and we hope these results will help parents, children and pets remain active at home during this time of physical distancing.” “Findings of this study demonstrate that, starting from a young age, the human-animal bond can play an important role in a child’s social and emotional development,” said Steven Feldman, Executive Director of HABRI. “HABRI is proud to support this important research, which will encourage more families to consider the benefits of dog ownership and more dog-owning families to spend quality time with their beloved pets.” The team of researchers at The University of Western Australia and Telethon Kids Institute, led by Dr. Christian, collected survey data from 1,646 households, taking into account children’s age, biological sex, sleep habits, screen time and parents’ education levels. Findings indicate that dog ownership is associated with improvements in wellbeing and social-emotional development in children. Specifically, in comparison to children in non-dog-owning households, children from dog-owning households were 23 percent less likely to have difficulties with their emotions and social interactions...

The Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI) announced today it has awarded a grant to the Institute for Human-Animal Connection, Graduate School of Social Work, University of Denver for a new study, Exploring the impacts of animal-assisted interventions on positive youth development for adolescents in residential treatment. The study aims to better understand the clinical, behavioral and educational impacts of the Animal-Assisted Intervention (AAI) programs at Green Chimneys, a therapeutic school and treatment center for children facing social, emotional, and behavioral challenges. “In conducting this study, we hope to better understand the impacts of the Green Chimneys AAI programs on student outcomes from the perspectives of the students who regularly participate in them,” explained the study’s Principal Investigator, Kevin Morris, PhD, Director of Research of the Institute for Human-Animal Connection, University of Denver. “The findings from this project will be combined with an array of other qualitative and quantitative studies underway at Green Chimneys, which we hope will create a more detailed understanding of the impacts of these programs.” The research team, led by Dr. Morris and Dr. Megan Mueller, Co-Director of the Tufts Institute for Human-Animal Interaction, and including Erin Flynn, MSW, and Jaci Gandenberger, MSW, both from the Institute for Human-Animal Connection at the University of Denver, will conduct semi-structured interviews with 20 5th-7th grade Green Chimneys students across both residential and day programs. After conducting the interviews, key themes will be identified and reviewed for common meanings and then grouped together via identified constitutive content that links the themes to one another. These student themes will be combined with the findings of previous qualitative studies conducted with Green Chimneys teaching, clinical and animal program staff to create a nuanced understanding of the mechanisms by which...

The Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI) today announced funding for a new research project that will examine how different human-equine interactions affect physiological indicators of self-regulation in autistic youth. The grant was awarded to a team of researchers led by Dr. B. Caitlin Peters, Director of Research at the Temple Grandin Equine Center at Colorado State University, and Dr. Robin Gabriels, Professor at the University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus. Autistic youth can experience impaired self-regulation, defined as the ability to monitor, evaluate, and modify one’s emotions and behavior. There are over a dozen distinct equine-assisted services (EASs), including a variety of therapy and educational programs integrating horses to improve health and wellbeing for autistic youth. One specific intervention, therapeutic horseback riding (THR), has been demonstrated to improve social abilities and self-regulation in autistic youth. However, there is a knowledge gap about the differential effects of mounted compared to unmounted human-equine interactions on autistic youth. The objective of the proposed study is to quantify the immediate effects of mounted and unmounted human-equine interactions on physiological and behavioral indicators of self-regulation in autistic youth. “Previously, autistic youth who have been unwilling or unable to ride a horse have been excluded from equine-assisted services studies,” said Dr. B. Caitlin Peters, the Principal Investigator of this study. “This new research aims to inform the development of a completely unmounted intervention protocol, which would enable more autistic youth to access equine-assisted services and benefit from these interventions.” This study will be the first study to randomly assign autistic youth to mounted vs unmounted human-equine interactions. Twenty-four autistic youth between the ages of 6 and 16 will be randomized to undergo three interventions including horseback...