Abstract
Many emotionally-disturbed children who have been maltreated and are legally separated from their parents or primary caregivers live in group homes and receive compulsory education. Such institutions provide various special intervention programs. Taiko-ensou, a Japanese style of group drumming, is one such program because playing drums in a group may improve children’s emotional well-being. However, evidence for its efficacy has not been well established at the biological level. In this study, we measured salivary levels of oxytocin (OT), a neuropeptide associated with social memory and communication, in three conditions (recital, practice, and free sessions) in four classes of school-aged children. Following the sessions, OT concentrations showed changes in various degrees and directions (no change, increases, or decreases). The mean OT concentration changes after each session increased, ranging from 112% to 165%. Plasma OT concentrations were equally sensitive to drum playing in school-aged boys and girls. However, the difference between practice and free play sessions was only significant among elementary school boys aged 8–12 years. The results suggest that younger boys are most responsive to this type of educational music intervention.
Highlights
Childhood maltreatment represents the most potent predictor of poor mental health across the lifespan [1,2,3]
A total of 23 boys and five girls from the elementary and junior high schools were involved in average baseline salivary OT level did not differ significantly between assessments for any of the the sessions, during which three male teachers instructed them to play a piece of music
Groups, but the highest value was obtained from the elementary school boys
Summary
Childhood maltreatment represents the most potent predictor of poor mental health across the lifespan [1,2,3]. Such adversity increases the risk of a wide range of psychiatric disorders, including reactive attachment disorder (RAD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) [4,5,6,7]. In Japan, emotionally-disturbed children, including those who have been maltreated, are either admitted to a short-term therapeutic institution or treated as out-patients, and receive consultation and other assistance. Children who are resident in such institutions learn to adapt to social life while living together in groups, and receive compulsory education [12,13]
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