The Effect of Mental Activation of One’s Pet Dog on Stress Reactivity

Kerri E. Rodriguez, Dan J. Graham and Rachel G. Lucas-Thompson ()
Additional contact information
Kerri E. Rodriguez: Human-Animal Bond in Colorado, School of Social Work, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
Dan J. Graham: Department of Psychology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
Rachel G. Lucas-Thompson: Colorado School of Public Health, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 21, 1-13

Abstract: Research suggests that mental activation of human social support may reduce stress reactivity. However, the extent to which social support from pets elicits a similar effect has been less explored. This study aims to determine whether the mental activation of one’s pet dog reduces stress reactivity to a subsequent experimental stressor. In a 2 × 2 design, 132 dog-owning participants (M age = 20.14; 80% female) were randomly assigned to one of two mental activation conditions (pet dog; general) and one of two stressor conditions (social-evaluative; cognitive). Data were analyzed with two-way ANOVAs with self-reported (positive/negative affect, negative self-evaluation) and physiological (blood pressure, heart rate) dependent variables. Results indicated that participants randomized to the pet dog mental activation condition had smaller decreases in positive affect from baseline to post-stressor compared to the general mental activation condition. However, there were no significant interactions between time and mental activation condition on negative affect, negative self-evaluation, heart rate, or blood pressure. Thus, the mental activation of one’s pet dog had a minimal effect on stress reactivity to a cognitive or social-evaluative stressor. Results suggest that the physical presence of an animal may be an essential mechanism underlying the benefits of animal-derived social support.

Keywords: stress; human–animal interaction; social support; dogs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/21/6995/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/21/6995/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:21:p:6995-:d:1270169

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().