According to a new study published in the journal Social Development, pet dogs provide valuable social support for children when they’re stressed.
German Shepherd puppy. Image credit: Marilyn Peddle / CC BY 2.0.
“Many people think pet dogs are great for kids but scientists aren’t sure if that’s true or how it happens,” said lead author Dr. Darlene Kertes, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Florida.
“One way this might occur is by helping children cope with stress. How we learn to deal with stress as children has lifelong consequences for how we cope with stress as adults.”
In the study, Dr. Kertes and her colleagues from Arizona State University and the University of Florida tested whether pet dogs have stress-buffering effects for children.
The participants were 101 children aged 7–12 years with their primary caregivers and pet dogs.
To tap children’s stress, the children completed a public speaking task and mental arithmetic task, which are known to evoke feelings of stress and raise the stress hormone cortisol, and simulates real-life stress in children’s lives.
The children were randomly assigned to experience the stressor with their dog present for social support, with their parent present, or with no social support.
“Our research shows that having a pet dog present when a child is undergoing a stressful experience lowers how much children feel stressed out,” Dr. Kertes said.
“Children who had their pet dog with them reported feeling less stressed compared to having a parent for social support or having no social support.”
Samples of saliva were also collected before and after the stressor to check children’s levels of cortisol.
The results showed that for kids who underwent the stressful experience with their pet dogs, children’s cortisol level varied depending on the nature of the interaction of children and their pets.
“Children who actively solicited their dogs to come and be pet or stroked had lower cortisol levels compared to children who engaged their dogs less,” Dr. Kertes explained.
“When dogs hovered around or approached children on their own, however, children’s cortisol tended to be higher.”
“Middle childhood is a time when children’s social support figures are expanding beyond their parents, but their emotional and biological capacities to deal with stress are still maturing,” she said.
“Because we know that learning to deal with stress in childhood has lifelong consequences for emotional health and well-being, we need to better understand what works to buffer those stress responses early in life.”
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Darlene A. Kertes et al. 2017. Effect of Pet Dogs on Children’s Perceived Stress and Cortisol Stress Response. Social Development 26 (2): 382-401; doi: 10.1111/sode.12203
