Affectionate Interactions of Cats with Children Having Autism Spectrum Disorder
Mental and physical benefits of dogs have been reported for adults and children with special needs, but less is known about benefits of cats for children. A cat that can be held by a child could provide important therapeutic companionship for children with severe or less severe autism spectrum disor...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2018-03-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Veterinary Science |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fvets.2018.00039/full |
| _version_ | 1811196873180971008 |
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| author | Lynette A. Hart Abigail P. Thigpen Neil H. Willits Leslie A. Lyons Irva Hertz-Picciotto Benjamin L. Hart |
| author_facet | Lynette A. Hart Abigail P. Thigpen Neil H. Willits Leslie A. Lyons Irva Hertz-Picciotto Benjamin L. Hart |
| author_sort | Lynette A. Hart |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Mental and physical benefits of dogs have been reported for adults and children with special needs, but less is known about benefits of cats for children. A cat that can be held by a child could provide important therapeutic companionship for children with severe or less severe autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who otherwise may lack prosocial behaviors. Because relatively little is known about the behavior of cats around children, we conducted this study. Phase 1 gathered web-survey data from families having an adult cat and a child with ASD (n = 64). In Phase 2, there were direct telephone interviews of parents having a child with severe ASD (n = 16) or less severe ASD (n = 11), or typical development (n = 17). From the Phase 1 web survey of families with ASD children (full range of severities), affectionate interactions of the cats with children were common. Most parents with ASD children volunteered positive comments regarding the cat, such as calming the child, being a soothing protector or a guardian. In the interviews in Phase 2, for all three groups, most parents characterized cats as at least moderately affectionate toward the child. However, cats living with severe ASD children were reported to exhibit less affection than those living with typically developing children or children with less severe ASD. A minority of cats in each group showed some aggression to the specified child; this was not elevated with ASD children. Responses suggested that the cats adopted as kittens were more affectionate and less aggressive to all categories of children than those adopted as adults. Overall, participants reported that ASD children’s behaviors indicated that they valued the relationship with the cat, similar to typically developing children, pointing to the importance and potential usefulness of selecting affectionate and compatible cats for ASD children. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T01:06:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-df7a489e8f0944279a678cf09bb10bb2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2297-1769 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T01:06:05Z |
| publishDate | 2018-03-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Veterinary Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-df7a489e8f0944279a678cf09bb10bb22022-12-22T03:54:15ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Veterinary Science2297-17692018-03-01510.3389/fvets.2018.00039284428Affectionate Interactions of Cats with Children Having Autism Spectrum DisorderLynette A. Hart0Abigail P. Thigpen1Neil H. Willits2Leslie A. Lyons3Irva Hertz-Picciotto4Benjamin L. Hart5Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA, United StatesDepartment of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA, United StatesDepartment of Statistics, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA, United StatesDepartment of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Missouri, Columbia, SC, United StatesMedical Investigations of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (M.I.N.D.) Institute, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA, United StatesDepartment of Anatomy, Physiology and Cell Biology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA, United StatesMental and physical benefits of dogs have been reported for adults and children with special needs, but less is known about benefits of cats for children. A cat that can be held by a child could provide important therapeutic companionship for children with severe or less severe autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who otherwise may lack prosocial behaviors. Because relatively little is known about the behavior of cats around children, we conducted this study. Phase 1 gathered web-survey data from families having an adult cat and a child with ASD (n = 64). In Phase 2, there were direct telephone interviews of parents having a child with severe ASD (n = 16) or less severe ASD (n = 11), or typical development (n = 17). From the Phase 1 web survey of families with ASD children (full range of severities), affectionate interactions of the cats with children were common. Most parents with ASD children volunteered positive comments regarding the cat, such as calming the child, being a soothing protector or a guardian. In the interviews in Phase 2, for all three groups, most parents characterized cats as at least moderately affectionate toward the child. However, cats living with severe ASD children were reported to exhibit less affection than those living with typically developing children or children with less severe ASD. A minority of cats in each group showed some aggression to the specified child; this was not elevated with ASD children. Responses suggested that the cats adopted as kittens were more affectionate and less aggressive to all categories of children than those adopted as adults. Overall, participants reported that ASD children’s behaviors indicated that they valued the relationship with the cat, similar to typically developing children, pointing to the importance and potential usefulness of selecting affectionate and compatible cats for ASD children.http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fvets.2018.00039/fullaggressive behavior of catsaffectionate behavior of catsautismautism spectrum disordercats and childrenanthrozoology |
| spellingShingle | Lynette A. Hart Abigail P. Thigpen Neil H. Willits Leslie A. Lyons Irva Hertz-Picciotto Benjamin L. Hart Affectionate Interactions of Cats with Children Having Autism Spectrum Disorder Frontiers in Veterinary Science aggressive behavior of cats affectionate behavior of cats autism autism spectrum disorder cats and children anthrozoology |
| title | Affectionate Interactions of Cats with Children Having Autism Spectrum Disorder |
| title_full | Affectionate Interactions of Cats with Children Having Autism Spectrum Disorder |
| title_fullStr | Affectionate Interactions of Cats with Children Having Autism Spectrum Disorder |
| title_full_unstemmed | Affectionate Interactions of Cats with Children Having Autism Spectrum Disorder |
| title_short | Affectionate Interactions of Cats with Children Having Autism Spectrum Disorder |
| title_sort | affectionate interactions of cats with children having autism spectrum disorder |
| topic | aggressive behavior of cats affectionate behavior of cats autism autism spectrum disorder cats and children anthrozoology |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fvets.2018.00039/full |
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