Browsing by Subject "temperament"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • No Thumbnail Available
    ItemOpen Access
    Characterizing sleep-wake cycles in dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) using daytime activity levels, sex, and temperament: a longitudinal comparison
    (2024-04-12) Sandberg, Emily
    Across many species, sleep patterns are associated with variables such as age, sex, daytime activity levels, and temperament. Yet, current research lacks an in-depth characterization of dog sleep patterns and how they vary according to these variables during the critical developmental period of young puppyhood. Such studies are crucial in order to establish dogs as a model organism for studies of sleep and for additional applications in the realms of dog welfare and training. In the present study, we characterized how often and for how long young dogs wake, as well as their barking patterns during sleep. We evaluated sleep behaviors for dogs aged 8-18 weeks and determined longitudinal patterns using a sample of Canine Companions service-dogs-in-training (N=21). Video recordings of dogs were analyzed using a novel coding scheme to determine duration and frequency of awake bouts and barking. Mixed-effects logistic regression models reveal that awake-bout length (minutes) and frequency did not vary significantly by weeks of age, daytime activity levels, or temperament. However, we did find significant sex differences in awake bout length (p<0.009). These results suggest distinct daytime and nighttime temperaments, as well as the importance of this developmental period for developing adultlike sleep patterns. Further study is required to examine sleep behaviors in puppies beyond 18-weeks to better understand how adultlike patterns emerge and the stability of the patterns observed in this study.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Individual differences in toddlers' social understanding and prosocial behavior: disposition or socialization?
    (Front Psychol, 2015) Gross, Rebekkah L; Drummond, Jesse; Satlof-Bedrick, Emma; Waugh, Whitney E; Svetlova, Margarita; Brownell, Celia A
    We examined how individual differences in social understanding contribute to variability in early-appearing prosocial behavior. Moreover, potential sources of variability in social understanding were explored and examined as additional possible predictors of prosocial behavior. Using a multi-method approach with both observed and parent-report measures, 325 children aged 18-30 months were administered measures of social understanding (e.g., use of emotion words; self-understanding), prosocial behavior (in separate tasks measuring instrumental helping, empathic helping, and sharing, as well as parent-reported prosociality at home), temperament (fearfulness, shyness, and social fear), and parental socialization of prosocial behavior in the family. Individual differences in social understanding predicted variability in empathic helping and parent-reported prosociality, but not instrumental helping or sharing. Parental socialization of prosocial behavior was positively associated with toddlers' social understanding, prosocial behavior at home, and instrumental helping in the lab, and negatively associated with sharing (possibly reflecting parents' increased efforts to encourage children who were less likely to share). Further, socialization moderated the association between social understanding and prosocial behavior, such that social understanding was less predictive of prosocial behavior among children whose parents took a more active role in socializing their prosociality. None of the dimensions of temperament was associated with either social understanding or prosocial behavior. Parental socialization of prosocial behavior is thus an important source of variability in children's early prosociality, acting in concert with early differences in social understanding, with different patterns of influence for different subtypes of prosocial behavior.