How Equine-Assisted Activities Affect the Prosocial Behavior of Adolescents.

Imre Zoltán Pelyva,Réka Kresák,Etelka Szovák,Ákos Levente Tóth

doi:10.3390/ijerph17082967

Abstract

Multiple studies have investigated the positive effects of human–animal interactions and showed that animal-assisted activities can be successfully used to better human physical and mental health. Equine-assisted activities have also raised considerable attention within the field. Our research focuses on healthy students (aged 14–18) without deviations or special educational needs. We analyze the occurrence of behavior problems and prosocial behavior among adolescents who regularly have interactions with horses, and those who have no connection to horses at all. The subjects of our investigation completed the strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ), and we use a ‘quasi’ 2 × 2 before-after control-impact design to analyze the data. Students studying equine-related vocations and students of other vocations are compared, at the beginning and at the end of their studies. Our results indicate that students of equine-related vocations are more helpful and empathetic, and have fewer behavior problems, than those studying other vocations. There is a negative correlation between prosocial behavior and behavior problems. The development of the prosocial behaviors of students with regular horse–human interactions is more remarkable than of those who have no connection to horses. With these results, we are going to confirm the hypothesis that equine-assisted activities correlate with positive behavioral traits among healthy adolescents.

Highlights

Adolescence is a time of fundamental physical, mental, and emotional changes, making it really hard for teenagers to cope with life
Prosocial behavior (PB) was considered a dichotomous dependent variable, and with a logistic regression model, we investigated to what extent it is related to the different types of behavior problems, controlled by gender, age, and group variables (ES or other students (OS))
It was found that these favorable characteristics are already present at the admission of equine students to the institutions, which might suggest that adolescents with stronger social skills are attracted to horses; on the other hand, the fact that the decline of behavior problems is more remarkable in the equine group than in the control group suggests that equine-assisted activities (EAA) might play a role in strengthening these skills

Summary

Introduction

Adolescence is a time of fundamental physical, mental, and emotional changes, making it really hard for teenagers to cope with life This is a stage when mental health issues often surface, and if not managed in time, these can lead to delinquency or substance abuse [1], or can cause illnesses later in life [2]. For this reason, exploring ways to protect and help adolescents struggling with psychosocial factors is of high importance, and strengthening prosocial behaviors was found to be one such way [3]. The role of equine-assisted activities (EAA) in physical and mental health issues is getting more attention worldwide

Objectives

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion