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

ABSTRACT: 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.

SUBMITTER: Schretzmayer L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5475382 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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

Schretzmayer Lisa L Kotrschal Kurt K Beetz Andrea A

Frontiers in veterinary science 20170615

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 sess ...[more]

PMID: 28674695

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Project description:IntroductionRegular physical activity is important for children's physical and mental health, yet many children do not achieve recommended amounts of physical activity. Dog ownership has been associated with increased physical activity in children, however, there have been no longitudinal studies examining this relationship. This study used data from the Play Spaces and Environments for Children's Physical Activity (PLAYCE) cohort study to examine the longitudinal effects of dog ownership status on children's movement behaviours.MethodsChange in dog ownership from preschool (wave 1, age 2-5) to fulltime school (wave 2, age 5-7) was used as a natural experiment with four distinct dog ownership groups: continuing non-dog owners (n = 307), continuing dog owners (n = 204), dog acquired (n = 58), and dog loss (n = 31; total n = 600). Daily movement behaviours, including physical activity, sedentary time, sleep, and screen time, were measured using accelerometry and parent-report surveys. Differences between groups over time and by sex were tested using linear mixed effects regression models.ResultsGirls who acquired a dog increased their light intensity activities and games by 52.0 min/day (95%CI 7.9, 96.0) and girls who lost a dog decreased their light intensity activities and games by 62.1 min/day (95%CI -119.3, -4.9) compared to no change among non-dog owners. Girls and boys who acquired a dog increased their unstructured physical activity by 6.8 (95%CI 3.2, 10.3) and 7.1 (95%CI 3.9, 10.3) occasions/week, compared to no changes among non-dog owners. Girls and boys who lost a dog reduced their unstructured physical activity by 10.2 (95%CI -15.0, -5.3) and 7.7 (95%CI -12.0, -3.5) occasions/week. Girls who lost a dog decreased their total physical activity by 46.3 min/day (95%CI -107.5, 14.8) compared to no change among non-dog owners. Continuing dog ownership was typically not associated with movement behaviours. Dog ownership group was not associated with changes in sleep and had mixed associations with screen time.ConclusionThe positive influence of dog ownership on children's physical activity begins in early childhood and differs by child sex. Further research should examine the specific contributions dog-facilitated physical activity makes to children's overall physical activity, including the intensity and duration of dog walking and play.

Project description:Reading and language skills have overlapping genetic bases, most of which are still unknown. Part of the missing heritability may be caused by copy number variants (CNVs).In a dataset of children recruited for a history of reading disability (RD, also known as dyslexia) or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and their siblings, we investigated the effects of CNVs on reading and language performance. First, we called CNVs with PennCNV using signal intensity data from Illumina OmniExpress arrays (~723,000 probes). Then, we computed the correlation between measures of CNV genomic burden and the first principal component (PC) score derived from several continuous reading and language traits, both before and after adjustment for performance IQ. Finally, we screened the genome, probe-by-probe, for association with the PC scores, through two complementary analyses: we tested a binary CNV state assigned for the location of each probe (i.e., CNV+ or CNV-), and we analyzed continuous probe intensity data using FamCNV.No significant correlation was found between measures of CNV burden and PC scores, and no genome-wide significant associations were detected in probe-by-probe screening. Nominally significant associations were detected (p~10(-2)-10(-3)) within CNTN4 (contactin 4) and CTNNA3 (catenin alpha 3). These genes encode cell adhesion molecules with a likely role in neuronal development, and they have been previously implicated in autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders. A further, targeted assessment of candidate CNV regions revealed associations with the PC score (p~0.026-0.045) within CHRNA7 (cholinergic nicotinic receptor alpha 7), which encodes a ligand-gated ion channel and has also been implicated in neurodevelopmental conditions and language impairment. FamCNV analysis detected a region of association (p~10(-2)-10(-4)) within a frequent deletion ~6 kb downstream of ZNF737 (zinc finger protein 737, uncharacterized protein), which was also observed in the association analysis using CNV calls.These data suggest that CNVs do not underlie a substantial proportion of variance in reading and language skills. Analysis of additional, larger datasets is warranted to further assess the potential effects that we found and to increase the power to detect CNV effects on reading and language.

Project description:BackgroundTo characterize pediatric dog bite injuries presenting to US children's hospitals and identify factors associated with clinically significant injuries.MethodsWe performed a multicenter observational study from 26 pediatric hospitals between July 1, 2010, and June 30, 2020, including patients ≤ 18 years with dog bites, consolidating together encounters from patients with multiple encounters within 30 days as a single episode of care. We characterized diagnoses and procedures performed in these patients. We used generalized linear mixed models to identify factors associated with a composite outcome that we term clinically significant injuries (defined as admission, operating room charge, sedation, fractures/dislocations, intracranial/eye injury, skin/soft tissue infection, or in-hospital mortality).Results68,833 episodes were included (median age 6.6 years [interquartile range 3.5-10.4 years], 55.5% male) from 67,781 patients. We identified 16,502 patients (24.0%) with clinically significant injuries, including 6653 (9.7%) admitted, 5080 (7.4%) managed in the operating room, 11,685 (17.0%) requiring sedation, 493 (0.7%) with a skull fracture, 32 (0.0%) with a fracture in the neck or trunk, 389 (0.6%) with a fracture of the upper limb, 51 (0.1%) with a fracture in the lower limb, 15 (0.0%) with dislocations, 66 (0.1%) with an intracranial injury and 164 (0.2%) with an injury to the eyeball, 3708 (5.4%) with skin/soft tissue infections, and 5 (0.0%) with in-hospital mortality. In multivariable analysis, younger age (0-4 years, 5-9 years, and 10-14 years relative to 15-18 years), weekday injuries, and an income in the second and third quartiles (relative to the lowest quartile) had higher odds of clinically significant injuries. Black patients (relative to White), Hispanic/Latino ethnicity, and private insurance status (relative to public insurance) had lower odds of clinically important injuries. When evaluating individual components within the composite outcome, most followed broader trends.ConclusionDog bites are an important mechanism of injury encountered in children's hospitals. Using a composite outcome measure, we identified younger, White, non-Hispanic children at higher risk of clinically significant injuries. Findings with respect to race and ethnicity and dog bite injuries warrant further investigation. Results can be used to identify populations for targeted prevention efforts to reduce severe dog bite injuries.

Dataset Information

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

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

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