Long-term benefits of dog ownership: Effects on stress and social behavior

养狗的长期好处：对压力和社会行为的影响

基本信息

批准号：
8401129
负责人：
KRISTEN C. JACOBSON
金额：
$ 7.4万
依托单位：
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
财政年份：
2012
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2012-01-01 至 2014-12-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8401129
关键词：
Address Adolescence Adult Age Aggressive behavior Animals Anxiety Attitude Autistic Disorder Behavior Behavior Disorders Behavioral Biological Biological Markers Biology Canis familiaris Characteristics Child Child Development Child health care Childhood Clinical Collection Complement Data Data Set Depressed mood Dimensions Discipline Emotional Emotional disorder Empathy Endocrinology Environment Environmental Risk Factor Event Experimental Psychology Exposure to Family Family Characteristics Funding Future Genetic Happiness Health behavior Human Human Development Hydrocortisone Individual Individual Differences Interview Laboratories Lead Life Long-Term Effects Measures Mediating Mental Depression Outcome Ownership Oxytocin Participant Patient Self-Report Personal Satisfaction Persons Physiological Pilot Projects Plasma Prevention program Recording of previous events Research Research Project Grants Risk Role Salivary Sampling Social Behavior Social Environment Social Phobia Social Psychology Social isolation Social support Sociology Stress Testing Time aged anti social base behavior measurement developmental disease developmental psychology heart rate variability indexing intervention program pet animal protective effect psychologic psychosocial public health relevance response social young adult

项目摘要

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): There is growing evidence that pet-assisted therapies may be beneficial for children with physical, emotional, and developmental disorders. In addition, human-animal interaction (HAI) and pet ownership are associated with lower stress and increased prosocial behavior and psychological well-being in children and adults. However, a number of research questions remain unanswered. First, do biological mechanisms (e.g., oxytocin) associated with HAI in previous studies mediate relationships between HAI and prosocial behavior and stress? Second, do the positive benefits of pet ownership during childhood have lasting effects on biology and behavior in late adolescence and young adulthood? Third, do individual or group differences, including both person and context characteristics, as well as experimentally-induced stress, moderate the effects of HAI on biology and behavior? The proposed study will utilize a sample of 96 individuals aged 18-25 to specifically address the above research questions. Subjects will be brought to the PI's laboratory for a brief (20 minute) interaction with a friendly, unfamiliar dog (experimental HAI). Indices of prosocial behavior and stress will be obtained via laboratory paradigms. Collection of repeated plasma oxytocin and salivary cortisol samples and measures of heart rate variability will allow us to assess the impact of experimental HAI on underlying biological mechanisms. Half of study participants will have a history of childhood dog ownership, and the other half will not have previously owned pets. No subjects will currently live with pets. Half of the study participants will undergo HAI prior to the stress paradigm, and the other half will interact with te dog after the stress paradigm, allowing us to determine whether HAI reduces biological markers of stress, and whether stress facilitates the release of oxytocin during HAI. Moreover, we will collect self-report and clinical interview data from all 96 subjects on current behavioral and emotional outcomes (e.g., aggression, depression, prosocial behavior), person characteristics (e.g., empathy, attitudes towards animals), and measures of social environment (e.g., recent stressful life events, social support, family characteristics) that may moderate or predict the effects of HAI on biology and behavior. Finally, we will assess the timing of exposure to dogs, intensity of attachment to pets, and dog characteristics as factors that may predict individual differences in biology and behavior among prior dog-owners.

描述（由申请人提供）：越来越多的证据表明宠物辅助治疗可能对患有身体、情感和发育障碍的儿童有益。此外，人与动物的互动（HAI）和养宠物与儿童和成人的压力减轻、亲社会行为和心理健康的增加有关。然而，许多研究问题仍未得到解答。首先，先前研究中与 HAI 相关的生物机制（例如催产素）是否介导 HAI 与亲社会行为和压力之间的关系？其次，童年时期养宠物的积极好处是否会对青春期后期和成年早期的生物学和行为产生持久影响？第三，个体或群体差异（包括个人和环境特征以及实验引起的压力）是否会减轻 HAI 对生物学和行为的影响？拟议的研究将利用 96 名 18-25 岁个体的样本来专门解决上述研究问题。受试者将被带到 PI 的实验室，与一只友好的、不熟悉的狗进行简短（20 分钟）的互动（实验性 HAI）。亲社会行为和压力的指数将通过实验室范例获得。重复收集血浆催产素和唾液皮质醇样本并测量心率变异性将使我们能够评估实验性 HAI 对潜在生物学机制的影响。一半的研究参与者童年时期养过狗，另一半以前没有养过宠物。目前没有对象会与宠物一起生活。一半的研究参与者将在压力范式之前经历 HAI，另一半将在压力范式之后与狗互动，从而使我们能够确定 HAI 是否会减少压力的生物标志物，以及压力是否会在 HAI 期间促进催产素的释放。此外，我们将收集所有 96 名受试者的自我报告和临床访谈数据，内容涉及当前行为和情绪结果（例如攻击性、抑郁、亲社会行为）、个人特征（例如同理心、对动物的态度）以及社会环境测量（例如，最近的压力生活事件、社会支持、家庭特征）可能会调节或预测 HAI 对生物学和行为的影响。最后，我们将评估与狗接触的时间、对宠物的依恋强度以及狗的特征，作为可以预测先前养狗者之间生物学和行为个体差异的因素。