The Times reports on a study published online on the International Journal of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity website. The study title is: “Longitudinal effects of dog ownership, dog acquisition, and dog loss on children’s movement behaviours: findings from the PLAYCE cohort study.”
That’s a very long and technical title but essentially, to me, it means studying the impact of having a dog in the family and how it affects the amount of activity enjoyed by both boys and girls when interacting with the family dog.
The researchers are based in Perth, Australia. In general, they found greater activity among children living with a pet dog. And they found that these activities increased when the family acquired a dog and they decreased when they lost a dog.
There were 600 participating children in the study aged between two and seven from 2015 to 2021.
The researchers used a device called an accelerometer to measure activity levels. It was worn on the children’s hips for seven consecutive days. They also relied on parental observation. Over the course of the study 204 children enjoyed the company of a dog, 58 acquired a dog while 31 lost a dog.
For girls who were living with a dog when the study began it was found that they were involved in eight more episodes of unstructured physical activity a week and those who did not live with a dog.
“Unstructured activity” includes playing with a dog, walking with a dog and playing outside with their dog.
For boys, they enjoyed seven more such activities each week with their dog compared to those you didn’t have a dog.
For both girls and boys whose families acquired a dog during the study, unstructured activities increased by seven per week. For those families who lost a dog the number of unstructured physical activities per week fell by 10 for girls and 8 for boys.
Light intensity physical activities and games such as walking slowly and standing increased by 52 minutes a day for girls living in families which acquired a dog. When they lost a dog these activities decreased by 62 minutes per day. These particular changes were not seen for boys and further research is required as advised by Emma Adams of the University of Western Australia, who I believe is the lead author.
Comment: I have to comment. Although not reported in The Times, the presence of a dog in a family in which there are young children must be beneficial to the children because increased activity and interactions with an animal must be considered good for their health both physical and mental.
Study citation: Adams, E.K., Murray, K., Trost, S.G. et al. Longitudinal effects of dog ownership, dog acquisition, and dog loss on children’s movement behaviours: findings from the PLAYCE cohort study. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 21, 7 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-023-01544-9
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