Dog assisted education in children with rheumatic diseases and adolescents with chronic pain in Germany.

Objectives: Animal assisted intervention is an increasingly accepted tool to improve human well-being. The present study was performed to assess whether dog assisted education has a positive effect on children suffering from rheumatic disorders with pain and adolescents with chronic pain syndrome. Design: Two groups of juvenile patients were recruited: 7-17-year-old children in children with rheumatic diseases and adolescents with chronic pain syndromes. Overall, n=26 participated in the intervention, and n=29 in the control group. Setting: The intervention group met once a month, 12 times overall, for working with man trailing dogs in various locations. Main outcome measures: The influence of dog assisted education on quality of life (PedsQLTM Scoring Algorithm), pain intensity, perception, coping (Paediatric Pain Coping Inventory-Revised), and state anxiety (State Trait Anxiety Inventory) was assessed. Results: The quality of life increased significantly in the investigated period, but for both, the intervention and the control group. The state anxiety of children was lower after the dog assisted education than before. After the dog training sessions, state anxiety was 18% to 30% lower than before the intervention. Some participants noted subjectively improved pain coping and changes in pain perception, which were not found in the data. Conclusion: Our results indicate that for children with rheumatic diseases and adolescents with chronic pain syndromes dog assisted education (1) might lead to an increase of the quality of life, (2) leads to decreased state anxiety from pre to post intervention and (3) does not influence pain perception, frequency and intensity.

Neural processes of reward and punishment processing in childhood and adolescence: An event-related potential study on age differences.

Reward and punishment processing are subject to substantial developmental changes during youth. However, little is known about the neurophysiological correlates that are associated with these developmental changes, particularly with regard to both anticipatory and outcome processing stages. Thus, the aim of this study was to address this research gap in a sample of typically developing children and adolescents. Fifty-four children and adolescents (8-18 years) performed a Monetary Incentive Delay Task comprising a monetary reward and punishment condition. Using event-related brain potential recordings, the cue-P3 and the stimulus-preceding negativity (SPN) were analyzed during the anticipation phase, while the Reward Positivity and the feedback-P3 were analyzed during the outcome phase. When anticipating monetary loss or no gain, SPN amplitude in the right hemisphere decreased with age. Moreover, exploratory analyses revealed a decrease in feedback-P3 amplitudes in response to monetary loss with increasing age. No other group differences were observed. Age-related changes in the SPN and fP3 component suggest that sensitivity to negative outcomes decreases from childhood to late adolescence, supporting the notion that adolescence is associated with reduced harm-avoidance. Longitudinal research including young adults is needed to substantiate our findings and its clinical implications regarding disturbed developmental trajectories in psychiatric populations.

Sex differences in the neural underpinnings of social and monetary incentive processing during adolescence.

The brain's reward system undergoes major changes during adolescence, and an increased reactivity to social and nonsocial incentives has been described as a typical feature during this transitional period. Little is known whether there are sex differences in the brain's responsiveness to social or monetary incentives during adolescence. The aim of this event-related potential (ERP) study was to compare the neurophysiological underpinnings of monetary and social incentive processing in adolescent boys versus girls. During ERP recording, 38 adolescents (21 females, 17 males; 13-18 years) completed an incentive delay task comprising (a) a reward versus punishment condition and (b) social versus monetary incentives. The stimulus-preceding negativity (SPN) was recorded during anticipation of reward and punishment, and the feedback P3 (fP3) along with the feedback-related negativity (FRN) after reward/punishment delivery. During anticipation of social punishment, adolescent boys compared with girls exhibited a reduced SPN. After delivery, male adolescents exhibited higher fP3 amplitudes to monetary compared with social incentives, whereas fP3 amplitudes in girls were comparable across incentive types. Moreover, whereas in boys fP3 responses were higher in rewards than in punishment trials, no such difference was evident in girls. The results indicate that adolescent boys show a reduced neural responsivity in the prospect of social punishment. Moreover, the findings imply that, once the incentive is obtained, adolescent boys attribute a relatively enhanced motivational significance to monetary incentives and show a relative hyposensitivity to punishment. The findings might contribute to our understanding of sex-specific vulnerabilities to problem behaviors related to incentive processing during adolescence.

[Rejection sensitivity in adolescents with major depression]. / Zurückweisungsempfindlichkeit bei Jugendlichen mit Depression.

Objective: Rejection sensitivity (RS) is defined as the disposition to anxiously expect rejection, to perceive it as likely, and to overreact to it. Former studies showed heightened RS in clinically depressed adults and identified it as a predictor for symptoms of depression in adolescents. However, to date there are no studies examining RS as a disposition in adolescents with clinical Depression. Method: In the present study, we compared differences in RS and behavioral intentions in depressive and healthy adolescents after a rejection situation. We included n = 28 adolescents with depression and n = 32 healthy control participants between the ages of 12­17 and applied a German version of the Children's Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire "CRSQ". Results: It was found that, compared to controls, depressive adolescents show higher RS, are more anxious about rejection, and rate the likelihood of being rejected higher. Furthermore, adolescents with depression more often indicated to resign to rejection and blame themselves for it than their healthy counterparts. Conclusions: Our results are in concordance with the clinical picture and with cognitive theories of the disorder. In future studies, it would be important to examine whether corresponding interventions can have a positive impact on the course of the disease.

Neurophysiological Mechanisms of Auditory Information Processing in Adolescence: A Study on Sex Differences.

To date, little is known about sex differences in the neurophysiological correlates underlying auditory information processing. In the present study, auditory evoked potentials were evoked in typically developing male (n = 15) and female (n = 14) adolescents (13-18 years) during an auditory oddball task. Girls compared to boys displayed lower N100 and P300 amplitudes to targets. Larger N100 amplitudes in adolescent boys might indicate higher neural sensitivity to changes of incoming auditory information. The P300 findings point toward sex differences in auditory working memory and might suggest that adolescent boys might allocate more attentional resources when processing relevant auditory stimuli than adolescent girls.