Doctoral School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pécs, H-7621 Pécs, Hungary.
Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Szeged, H-6722 Szeged, Hungary.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Apr 24;17(8):2967. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17082967.
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.
多项研究调查了人与动物互动的积极影响，并表明动物辅助活动可成功用于改善人类身心健康。马辅助活动也在该领域引起了相当大的关注。我们的研究重点是健康的学生（14-18 岁），没有偏差或特殊教育需求。我们分析了经常与马互动的青少年与根本不与马接触的青少年之间行为问题和亲社会行为的发生情况。我们调查的对象完成了长处和困难问卷（SDQ），我们使用“准”2×2 前后对照影响设计来分析数据。我们比较了学习与马相关职业的学生和其他职业的学生，在他们学习的开始和结束时。我们的研究结果表明，与学习其他职业的学生相比，学习与马相关职业的学生更乐于助人，更有同理心，行为问题也更少。亲社会行为与行为问题呈负相关。经常与马互动的学生的亲社会行为发展比根本不与马接触的学生更为显著。有了这些结果，我们将证实假设，即马辅助活动与健康青少年的积极行为特征相关。
