New research investigates whether interacting with a trained dog improves school children’s self-esteem.

Growing up, I keenly recall my grandma collecting me from school, long after the age when my friends walked home together. Donning a headscarf and clutching an oversized handbag, she waited for me by the school gate. Luckily, there was one saving grace for my juvenile street cred, my grandma’s Yorkshire terrier, Sandy, who drew even the coolest kids over to say hello.

In a world where children often feel anxious and stressed, schools are increasingly on the lookout for initiatives to support their mental health in the classroom. In recent years, dog-assisted activities have gathered increasing support, both in terms of public opinion and robust scientific research. However, in some countries, including Greece, dog-assisted activities remain largely unknown. For this reason, a recent study investigated the impact of child-dog interactions on the self-esteem of Greek school children.

New study into dog-assisted activities

The study included 44 students, aged between 10-12 years, from a private elementary school in Attica. The children were randomly assigned to either the experimental condition (dog group) or the control condition (no-dog group). In the dog group, children physically interacted with a trained dog, whereas in the no-dog group, children attended presentations about dog training. Each session lasted approximately 45 minutes and took place weekly for a period of two months. The self-esteem of children in both groups was measured using a self-report scale before and after the intervention programmes to capture any changes.

The results revealed that the self-esteem of children in the dog group significantly increased (~9%) after the intervention programme compared to before. Unlike children in the no-dog group who reported no substantial change in their level of self-esteem before and after the intervention programme. It was also found that the post-intervention self-esteem scores of children in the dog group were significantly higher than in the non-dog group. And finally, qualitative observations made by the school’s administration team clearly conveyed the children’s enthusiasm for interacting with the dog.

Research takeaways

The finding that school children’s self-esteem increased amongst students who interacted with the dog highlights the potential wellbeing benefits of integrating dog-assisted interventions into the educational system. The results also align with previous research into animal-assisted interventions which have shown improvements in children’s psychological wellbeing.

Being the first of its kind study in Greece, the authors hope that their research raises awareness and inspires others to deepen our understanding of animal-assisted interventions. Future research is needed to examine the effect on a larger population of more diverse children, including any long-term changes in psychological wellbeing and knock-on consequences for the children’s academic achievements.

Key study findings:

• The self-esteem of children in the dog group was significantly higher after the intervention
• This increase was not observed in children in the no-dog condition
• Children enjoyed participating in the dog-assisted activity programme