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The “pet effect,” whereby interaction with a companion animal reduces the physiological indices of stress, varies with respect to fear of animals, companion animal guardianship, type of companion animal, or types of stress. In this study, a non-clinical sample of 223 undergraduates underwent the Trier Social Stress Test (tsst) in order to investigate how interaction with a companion animal affected stress levels for people with different levels of trait anxiety, a variable not yet investigated in this paradigm. An index of trait anxiety was taken along with repeated measures of state anxiety, blood pressure, and heart rate. Overall results indicated that interaction with a companion dog reduced stress for all participants, with the effect being more pronounced for those high in trait anxiety.
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Allen K. Are pets a healthy pleasure? The influence of pets on blood pressure Current Directions in Psychological Science 2003 12 6 236 239
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Custance D. D. & Mayer J. J. Empathic-like responding by domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) to distress in humans: An exploratory study Animal Cognition 2012 15 5 851 859
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| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
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| Abstract Views | 7865 | 1053 | 93 |
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Search for other papers by Evangeline A. Wheeler in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Margaret E. Faulkner in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
The “pet effect,” whereby interaction with a companion animal reduces the physiological indices of stress, varies with respect to fear of animals, companion animal guardianship, type of companion animal, or types of stress. In this study, a non-clinical sample of 223 undergraduates underwent the Trier Social Stress Test (tsst) in order to investigate how interaction with a companion animal affected stress levels for people with different levels of trait anxiety, a variable not yet investigated in this paradigm. An index of trait anxiety was taken along with repeated measures of state anxiety, blood pressure, and heart rate. Overall results indicated that interaction with a companion dog reduced stress for all participants, with the effect being more pronounced for those high in trait anxiety.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 7865 | 1053 | 93 |
| Full Text Views | 676 | 50 | 13 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 495 | 92 | 16 |