Quadrobics: a new trend or a psychological problem?

Has your child started copying the movements of animals, crawling on all fours, putting on a mask, and recording it on video? Then, you most likely already know about a popular hobby called quadrobics. The MEDplus editorial team decided to find out more about quadrobing and the impact of this trend on child safety and mental development.

Let’s figure out what is behind the desire to imitate animals in reality — is it just a way of self-expression or something more than just a game? What are the consequences of falling under the influence of this subculture, and how should parents react to it? To find answers to these questions, we turned to experts.

Who are quadrobers?

Quadrobics — is a teen trend (mostly popular on TikTok), based on participants’ imitation of the appearance and behavior of animals.

Where did quadrobers come from?

The founder of this movement is considered to be Japanese sprinter Kenichi Ito, who was insulted as a child and called a monkey. However, he grew up and turned running on four legs into a real sport. Kenichi Ito covered the distance of 100 meters on all fours in 18.58 seconds, which put him in the Guinness Book of Records and launched a new sport — quadrobics.

In most cases, the modern subculture has nothing similar to this sport. The goal of quadrobers is self-expression; it is important for them to become part of a global trend and feel part of a popular community.

It is also essential to distinguish quadrobers from furries and therians.

Therian — a person who feels like a beast (for example, a wolf). Therians are considered part of the furry culture.

Furries are a subculture that unites people who are fascinated by anthropomorphic animals. Furries create costumes, drawings, and other forms of self-expression using nature motifs and identifying with the characters, but not considering themselves to be an ornament or an embodiment of animals. This is not to say that the furry subculture is limited to teenagers. The furry community is diverse in terms of age, gender, and professional experience.

What do experts say?

Anna Kushnir

pediatrician, child psychiatrist

«Support and sincerity are the best strategies for parents. If you don’t understand your child’s hobby, and it’s alien to you, say: “I see you have a new hobby. I don’t understand it, but I want to support it. Tell me, please, why do you like doing quadrobics? What does it give you?”

This will give you valuable information about your child’s motives. Perhaps a friend does it, and the child wants to spend more time with him. Maybe the child likes the creative component of choosing a costume. Or perhaps the child fears “being different” from most children around them, and becomes a quadrober for this reason.

Remember that you, as a parent, can set rules: for example, to ensure that quadrobics does not interfere with the learning process, you can agree on specific days and hours when your child can do it.

As the saying goes, it’s okay to act like a cat but not to believe you are a cat. If you see signs that your child is confusing imagination with reality, it is definitely worth discussing with a child psychiatrist. Unacceptable behavior is when a child bites, spits, screams loudly, or otherwise openly disturbs other people. Be sure to discover why the child behaves this way and set boundaries (if not on your own, then with a specialist).

If you realize that the child really feels like an animal or believes she has animal body parts, I emphasize once again that you should talk to a specialist about this».

Inna Moskaliuk

child psychiatrist

«Quadrobing can be a form of creative expression and identification with a particular group. However, it is now turning into something that poses a danger to society. When a teenager begins to get into the role and attack a person or animal, it can no longer be assessed as a manifestation of adequate self-expression, can it?

Most children consider it a sport, but for them, quadrobics is not about physical activity but about community and belonging to trends. Every child who tries to prove themselves in quadrobics has certain emotional difficulties: low self-esteem, high levels of stress, anxiety, and depression. The teenagers themselves explain that it helps them distract from the news, and using animal sounds helps relieve tension.

Of course, when a child starts eating from a cat’s bowl and meowing, it is not within the scope of adequate perception. Most of them definitely do it to attract attention. For example, when there was a self-harm epidemic, one teenagers told me: “We’re not doing this because we want to die, it’s a cry for help.” The child simply removes himself from everyone and accepts only those with the same preferences.

The very fact of reincarnation into animals is not a pathology. If a child has a happy life, and quadrobics is one of their hobbies, absolutely nothing will happen to them. Now, they just play with their friends because they have fun, it’s interesting, a way of self-expression, and there is a trend, but over time, will realize that they don’t need it. Such a scenario is realistic if the child has healthy psychological immunity, and a healthy psyche.

However, if a child begins to lose touch with reality, constantly stays in a role, or refuses to interact with people outside the subculture, this may indicate serious mental disorders. Other symptoms should be observed, such as social isolation, changes in mood or behavior, and phantom sensations (feeling that they have a tail,or legs). This has a very negative impact on children with autism spectrum disorder and ADHD, and these children are at the highest risk of a negative effect on their mental state.

If a child begins to seriously believe that he or she has a tail or paws, this may indicate problems with the perception of reality. It is important to pay attention to the frequency of such statements, as well as how the child interacts with other aspects of the real world. If he or she cannot distinguish fantasy from reality and this affects his or her daily life, it is imperative to sound the alarm and seek professional help».

Yuliia Malanina

clinical psychologist

«I believe that if a child is engaged in this hobby as a hobby or sport and it brings him pleasure, then there is no reason to worry. In this case, there is no threat to the child’s psyche.

It is worth consulting a specialist if this hobby begins to have an antisocial or deviant character. These are cases such as attacks on people, aggressive behavior, or when children begin to fully associate themselves with the animal. These symptoms can be an indicator of mental disorders such as depersonalization and derealization.

Depersonalization is when a person complains that their feelings or sense of inner life are separated, alien or lost, or they feel that their emotions or movements belong to someone else, or when they feel out of their body. And derealization is when a person complains about feeling unreal. For example, there may be complaints that the environment or certain objects look unfamiliar, altered, flat, colorless, lifeless, uninteresting, or like a stage where everyone is acting. In such cases, you should immediately consult a psychiatrist».

Anastasia Babliak

pediatric psychiatrist, CBT consultant

«Quadrobing, or imitating animal movements, has gradually become not only a hobby for some children but also an element of an entire subculture. Nowadays, thanks to the development of the Internet and social networks, subcultures can emerge faster and gain popularity worldwide. For example, the furry community, where people create animal characters (fursons), dress like these characters or identify themselves with animals. This has some similarities with quadrobing, where children can also feel closer to animals, imitate their movements, and even perceive themselves as part of these roles.

What’s the norm?

In preschool (3-6 years), children actively play role-playing games. During this period, children can play the roles of animals, walk on all fours, imitate their sounds, or consider themselves a particular animal. This helps them develop empathy, thinking, creativity, and role modeling. This behavior is normal up to about 6-7 years of age, when children can better distinguish between reality and fantasy.

If, after the age of 7, a child continues to overidentify with an animal or their fantasies become more realistic, you should pay attention to this.

You should consult a psychologist or child psychiatrist in the following cases:

• Long-term identification with an animal: if the child continues to believe that he or she is not a person but an animal, and this manifests itself not only in play but also in everyday life.
• Refusal to recognize reality: when a child does not distinguish where fantasy ends and reality begins. He or she may express disturbing ideas that, for example, his or her body is changing and that he or she is “growing paws” or “tail”.
• Social isolation: if the child begins to avoid socializing with peers because of his or her beliefs or has difficulty learning, communicating, or playing. For example, he or she prefers to be alone, avoiding normal social contacts that used to bring pleasure.
• Emotional problems: The child may show signs of anxiety, depression, or aggression in response to attempts by family members or teachers to explain reality.
• Physical sensations and beliefs: When a child begins to claim to experience physical changes in his or her body (e.g., “I have a tail” or “my hands have become paws”) or when his or her behavior becomes dangerous to himself or herself or others (trying to act aggressively like an animal or eating something that is not fit for consumption).

It is important not to punish or ridicule the child but to consult a psychologist or psychiatrist for a detailed assessment of the condition and timely support.

A hobby becomes problematic if the child is completely immersed in it and begins to ignore his or her responsibilities, social relationships, and reality. If the child refuses to recognize that he or she is not an animal or begins to show aggression, strange habits, or anti-social behavior that may endanger him or her or others, it is necessary to consult a specialist».