[Maternal Attachment Style and her Perinatal Wellbeing Influence Early Childhood Development]. / Der Bindungsstil der Mutter und ihr perinatales Wohlbefinden beeinflussen die frühkindliche Entwicklung.

An increasing number of children show signs of behavioral problems and dysregulation in early childhood. It is assumed that maternal depression and her attachment representations affect child development. This was investigated in a prospective study with 161 primiparae women. Via standardized questionnaires during the third trimester, 3 weeks, 6 months and 18 months postpartum, prenatal attachment of the mother to the unborn child, her general attachment style and postpartum depression as well as the child's dysregulation at 18 months were assessed. In the GLM, longer-lasting pre- and postpartum depressivity and insecure partnership attachment representation were associated with child dysregulation. Therefore, early detection of pre- and postpartum depression is important in order to support both the affected women and the children for better child development.

Delivery mode and the course of pre- and postpartum depression.

PURPOSE: To compare depressiveness scores, both during and after pregnancy, with the delivery mode (DM). METHODS: In a longitudinal, prospective study, standardized questionnaires for the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale were presented to 1,100 women and used to assess the presence and severity of depressiveness at three time points: prenatal, from the 30th gestational week (Q1); 48-72 h postnatal (Q2); and 6-8 months postnatal (Q3). The patients were divided into four groups relative to DM: spontaneous delivery, primary cesarean section (CS), secondary CS, and assisted vaginal delivery. The final number of participating women with both delivery mode and depression information for all three time points was 753. RESULTS: There was a significant difference of the mean EPDS values between the spontaneous delivery and primary CS groups (P=0.04) at Q1 (5.1 vs. 6.3). None of the other comparisons was significant. Significant differences relative to DM were seen at Q2 (P<0.0001), but there were no significant differences between the patient groups at Q3 (P=0.54). CONCLUSIONS: DM only showed coherence with the extent of depression briefly during the peripartal period. A relationship was found between depressiveness during pregnancy and DM, with higher depressiveness scores in the group of patients undergoing primary CS. This should be taken into account when patients requesting an elective cesarean section are being counseled.

[Unresolved attachment and remembered childhood trauma in patients undergoing psychosomatic inpatient treatment]. / Aktuelles Bindungstrauma und Retrospektiv Erinnerte Kindheitstraumatisierung bei Patienten in Psychosomatischer Akutbehandlung.

OBJECTIVE: Clinical populations are characterised by a high level of childhood trauma and unresolved attachment status ("U"). Unresolved attachment status indicates the inability to integrate attachment-related dangers. Little is known about the interaction of traumatic childhood experiences and an unresolved attachment status. METHOD: We administered the Adult Attachment Projective Picture System (AAP) to 45 newly admitted psychosomatic inpatients. Childhood trauma (CTQ) and distress were assessed by self-report questionnaires, and cognitive-emotional development was evaluated with the Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS).We explored whether unresolved (U) and resolved (R) attachment status differentiated the sample with regard to childhood trauma, distress and cognitive-emotional development. RESULTS: 53 % of the sample was characterized by the attachment status U; physical abuse and neglect as well as emotional neglect were correlated with a diminished ability to integrate trauma indicators in the AAP. A resolved attachment status was related to higher LEAS scores. CONCLUSION: The level of cognitive-emotional development may mediate the actual integration of attachment-related dangers and the interaction between actual attachment-related anxiety and past traumatic experiences.

Positive Effects of a Short-Term Dog-Assisted Intervention for Soldiers With Post-traumatic Stress Disorder-A Pilot Study.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is diagnosed in 3% of German and 14-16% of US military following deployment abroad. The treatment of PTSD in soldiers is often challenging and thus new, additional interventions supporting traditional trauma therapy are employed, like animal-assisted interventions (AAI). In this pilot study, 29 soldiers with PTSD received four sessions of 3 h once a week of dog-assisted intervention in addition to inpatient standard treatment at the military hospital, while the control group of 31 soldiers with PTSD received standard treatment only. The dog-assisted intervention sessions included a walk, different play and grooming activities and just relaxing together toward the end. What was new in our approach was that the AAI sessions were delivered by military personnel, military dog-handlers with their own dogs (either military or privately owned). Data on psychiatric symptoms, perceived stress, work and social life, and the therapeutic relationship were answered before the first AAI session, during the days following the last AAI session, 1 month later, and 3 months later. Only the intervention group also answered a questionnaire on trauma confrontation, consumption of alcohol/drugs, mental wellness, and perceived stress each week during intervention. Analyses showed a trend for worse values in work and social adjustment in the control group and a significant trend toward better values in the intervention group. On the other parameters differences between control and intervention group were not significant. The mental wellness of the intervention group improved over the 4 weeks of therapy, particularly regarding the ability to experience joy. There was no clear trend for perceived stress, but the relationship to the dog handler improved significantly over the course of the intervention. This is noteworthy in patients with PTSD who usually have difficulties trusting others, especially new people. Keeping in mind that the AAI took place only four times, our findings point toward the value of dog-assisted interventions. With a longer treatment period the positive effects and trends might become more distinct.

Talking to Dogs: Companion Animal-Directed Speech in a Stress Test.

Companion animal-directed speech (CADS) has previously been investigated in comparison to infant-directed speech and adult-directed speech. To investigate the influence of owner caregiving, attachment pattern, and personality on CADS, we used the Ainsworth strange situation procedure. It allowed us to assess voice source parameters of CADS across different contexts. We extracted speech parameters (voicing duration, voice pitch, pitch range, and jitter) from 53 dog owners recorded during the procedure. We found that owner personality and gender but not caregiving/attachment behavior affect their voice's pitch, range, and jitter during CADS. Further, we found a differential and context-specific modification of pitch and range, consistent with the idea that pitch communicates affect, whereas range is more of an attention-getting device. This differential usage, and the increased pitch, emphasize and support the parallels described between CADS and infant-directed speech. For the first time, we also show the effect of personality on CADS and lay the basis for including jitter as a potentially useful measure in CADS.

Caregiver Reports of Interactions between Children up to 6 Years and Their Family Dog-Implications for Dog Bite Prevention.

In children up to 6 years, interactions such as interfering with the dog's resources and also benign behaviors (e.g., petting) commonly precede a bite incident with the family dog. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to explore the development of everyday interactions between children up to 6 years and their family dogs and whether parents' attitudes to supervision are related to those interactions. Additionally, we investigated whether behavior of dogs that had lived in the family for longer than the child differed from those that grew up with children. A self-selected sample of caregivers living with a child up to 6 years and a family dog was surveyed via an online questionnaire (N = 402). Frequency of observed child behaviors directed toward the dog and dog behaviors directed toward the child were scored on a six-point scale (1-never and 6-very often). Data on characteristics of the caregiver, the child, and the dog were collected, and a section surveying attitudes to supervision of child-dog interactions was included. Additionally, we asked whether the dog already injured the child. Benign child behaviors toward dogs were most frequently reported (mean ± SD: 4.1 ± 1.2), increased with child age (rs = 0.38, p < 0.001), and reached high levels from 6 months on. Overall, resource-related interactions were relatively infrequent (2.1 ± 1.1). Most common was the dog allowing the child to take objects from its mouth (4.1 ± 1.7). This behavior was more common with older children (rs = 0.37, p < 0.001). Reported injuries during resource-related interactions occurred while feeding treats or taking objects from the dog during fetch play. Dogs that had lived in the family for longer than the child showed less affiliative behaviors toward the child (e.g., energetic affiliative: U = -7.171, p < 0.001) and more fear-related behaviors (U = -3.581, p < 0.001). Finally, the caregivers' attitudes to supervision were related to all child behaviors (e.g., allow unsafe behaviors-benign child behavior: rs = 0.47, p < 0.001). The results of this study underline the need for a dog bite prevention approach directed toward the caregivers very early in the child-dog relationship, taking into account the child's age and individual needs of the dog.

Links between an Owner's Adult Attachment Style and the Support-Seeking Behavior of Their Dog.

The aim of this study was to investigate if an owner's adult attachment style (AAS) influences how their dog interacts and obtains support from them during challenging events. A person's AAS describes how they perceive their relationship to other people, but it may also reflect their caregiving behavior, and so their behavior toward the dog. We measured the AAS of 51 female Golden retriever owners, using the Adult Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ), and observed the reactions of the dog-owner dyads in response to different challenging situations [visual surprise, auditory stressor and social stressors like a person approaching dressed as ghost or in coat, hat and sunglasses]. In addition, the dog was left alone in a novel environment for 3 min. Interactions between the dog and owner were observed both before and after separation. Spearman rank correlation tests were made (between owner AAS and dog behavior) and where correlations were found, Mann-Whitney U-tests were made on the dogs' behavioral response between high and low scoring groups of owners of the different subscales of the ASQ. The more secure the owner (ASQ subscale 'Confidence'), the longer the dog was oriented to the two sudden stressors (the visual and auditory stressor). The more anxious the owner (ASQ subscale 'Attachment anxiety'), the longer the dog oriented toward the owner during the approach of the strange-looking person and the dog showed less lip licking during separation from the owner. The more avoidant the owner (ASQ subscale 'Avoidant attachment'), the longer the dog oriented toward the owner during the visual stressor, the less it was located behind the owner during the auditory stressor and the less it was oriented toward the auditory stressor. These links between owner attachment style and dog behavior imply that dogs may develop different strategies to handle challenging situations, based on the type of support they get from their owner.

Minor Immediate Effects of a Dog on Children's Reading Performance and Physiology.

Literacy is a key factor in occupational success and social integration. However, an increasing number of children lack appropriate reading skills. There is growing evidence that dogs have positive effects on reading performance. We investigated the short-term effects of dogs on reading performance in 36 third-graders and monitored physiological parameters [heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV), and salivary cortisol] as well as behavioral variables. Each child took part in two test sessions at the presence of a tutor, in one of which a dog and its handler were present. To assess reading performance two reading tests were used: two subtests of the standardized "Ein Leseverständnistest für Erst- bis Sechstklässler", where the children have to carry out time-limited reading tasks, to assess sentence and text comprehension, and repeated reading (RR), where the children have to read the same text twice, to assess reading speed and short-term improvement. Although the dog had no effect on reading performance scores, within the first test session the children improved from the first to the second run of RR when a dog was present but not without dog. The behavior of the children indicated a calming effect of the dog in the first test session with less nervous movements and the children being less talkative. We found no impact of the dog on HR and HRV. However, the excitement about the dog in combination with the unknown situation in the first test session was reflected in a higher difference in the mean HR difference between the two test sessions for the children, who in the first test session had a dog present, compared to the children, who had the dog in the second test session. In the second test session, the children were more aroused with a dog present than with no dog present, as indicated by the area under the curve increase (AUCi) of salivary cortisol values. We conclude that the presence of a dog had a minor short-term positive effect on the children's motivation and reading performance. More substantial effects could probably be achieved with repeated sessions.

Psychobiological Factors Affecting Cortisol Variability in Human-Dog Dyads.

Stress responses within dyads are modulated by interactions such as mutual emotional support and conflict. We investigated dyadic psychobiological factors influencing intra-individual cortisol variability in response to different challenging situations by testing 132 owners and their dogs in a laboratory setting. Salivary cortisol was measured and questionnaires were used to assess owner and dog personality as well as owners' social attitudes towards the dog and towards other humans. We calculated the individual coefficient of variance of cortisol (iCV = sd/mean*100) over the different test situations as a parameter representing individual variability of cortisol concentration. We hypothesized that high cortisol variability indicates efficient and adaptive coping and a balanced individual and dyadic social performance. Female owners of male dogs had lower iCV than all other owner gender-dog sex combinations (F = 14.194, p<0.001), whereas owner Agreeableness (NEO-FFI) scaled positively with owner iCV (F = 4.981, p = 0.028). Dogs of owners high in Neuroticism (NEO-FFI) and of owners who were insecure-ambivalently attached to their dogs (FERT), had low iCV (F = 4.290, p = 0.041 and F = 5.948, p = 0.016), as had dogs of owners with human-directed separation anxiety (RSQ) or dogs of owners with a strong desire of independence (RSQ) (F = 7.661, p = 0.007 and F = 9.192, p = 0.003). We suggest that both owner and dog social characteristics influence dyadic cortisol variability, with the human partner being more influential than the dog. Our results support systemic approaches (i.e. considering the social context) in science and in counselling.

Socio-emotional correlates of a schooldog-teacher-team in the classroom.

A growing number of teachers in Europe regularly take their dogs with them into the classroom. Limited research points at positive socio-emotional effects of this practice. In this study the effects of a schooldog-teacher-team on socioemotional experiences in school, depression and emotion regulation strategies were investigated in a classroom of third-graders (male n = 12, female n = 13), which had a schooldog present for 1 day per week in comparison with a control class (male n = 11, female n = 10). In contrast to the control class, the dog-class students reported a stronger improvement with regard to positive attitude toward school (repeated measures ANOVA; F = 10.769, df = 1, p = 0.002) and positive emotions related to learning (F = 4.479, df = 1, p = 0.042) over the course of the year. Since a prerequisite of all kinds of effective learning is a positive attitude and mood toward school and learning, the presence of a schooldog-teacher team thus has the potential to support learning.

Dogs motivate obese children for physical activity: key elements of a motivational theory of animal-assisted interventions.

BACKGROUND: There is empirical evidence that the presence of a companion animal can have a positive impact on performance. The available evidence can be viewed in terms of differing hypotheses that attempt to explain the mechanisms behind the positive effects. Little attention has been given to motivation as a potential mode of action with regards to human-animal interactions. First we give an overview of evidence that animals might promote motivation. Second we present a study to examine the effect of a therapy dog on exercise performance in children with obesity. METHODS: Twelve children, aged 8-12 years old, were randomly assigned to two groups in a crossover design: dog-group and human confederate group. Several types of physical activities via accelerometer and subjective ratings of wellbeing, satisfaction, and motivation were assessed. Data were analyzed using analysis of variance for repeated measures on one factor. RESULTS: The main effect of condition was significant for all performance variables. There was less passive behavior and more physical activity for all performance variables in the presence of the dog than in that of the human confederate. Between dog- and human- condition there was no difference in the subjective rating of motivation, wellbeing, or satisfaction. DISCUSSION: The results demonstrate that the presence of a therapy dog has the potential to increase physical activity in obese children. Task performance as a declarative measure was increased by the presence of the dog in comparison to a human confederate, but self-report measures of motivation, satisfaction or wellbeing did not differ between the two conditions. Therefore, it stands to reason that a dog could trigger implicit motives which enhance motivation for activity. The results of our study indicate the potentially beneficial effect of incorporating dogs into outpatient training for obese children.

Effects of social support by a dog on stress modulation in male children with insecure attachment.

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 (n = 24) was present, for one control group a friendly human (n = 10) and for the other control group a toy dog (n = 13). Stress levels of the children were measured via salivary cortisol at five times (t1-t5) 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 t4, t5 and the overall stress reaction from t1 to t5 (Area Under the Curve increase; Kruskal-Wallis H-Test, pairwise post hoc comparisons via Mann-Whitney U-Tests). Cortisol levels correlated negatively (r(s)) 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.

Psychosocial and psychophysiological effects of human-animal interactions: the possible role of oxytocin.

During the last decade it has become more widely accepted that pet ownership and animal assistance in therapy and education may have a multitude of positive effects on humans. Here, we review the evidence from 69 original studies on human-animal interactions (HAI) which met our inclusion criteria with regard to sample size, peer-review, and standard scientific research design. Among the well-documented effects of HAI in humans of different ages, with and without special medical, or mental health conditions are benefits for: social attention, social behavior, interpersonal interactions, and mood; stress-related parameters such as cortisol, heart rate, and blood pressure; self-reported fear and anxiety; and mental and physical health, especially cardiovascular diseases. Limited evidence exists for positive effects of HAI on: reduction of stress-related parameters such as epinephrine and norepinephrine; improvement of immune system functioning and pain management; increased trustworthiness of and trust toward other persons; reduced aggression; enhanced empathy and improved learning. We propose that the activation of the oxytocin system plays a key role in the majority of these reported psychological and psychophysiological effects of HAI. Oxytocin and HAI effects largely overlap, as documented by research in both, humans and animals, and first studies found that HAI affects the oxytocin system. As a common underlying mechanism, the activation of the oxytocin system does not only provide an explanation, but also allows an integrative view of the different effects of HAI.