{"id":34408,"date":"2026-08-18T12:35:47","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T16:35:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/?p=34408"},"modified":"2026-08-17T11:17:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T15:17:33","slug":"can-dogs-help-teens-cope-with-peer-stress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/2026\/08\/can-dogs-help-teens-cope-with-peer-stress\/","title":{"rendered":"Can dogs help teens cope with peer stress?"},"content":{"rendered":"

About one in\u00a010\u00a0teenagers experience social anxiety<\/strong>\u2014persistent\u00a0and disruptive\u00a0worries about\u00a0being judged by\u00a0their classmates and other peers. In a\u00a0new\u00a0study<\/a>\u00a0of adolescents with social anxiety, researchers at\u00a0Cummings\u00a0School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University<\/a>\u00a0found that certain qualities of teens\u2019 relationships with their pet dogs were associated with healthier ways of coping with peer-related stress.<\/p>\n

The study, published in the\u00a0Journal of Adolescence<\/em>, analyzed survey responses from 514 U.S. adolescents ages 13 to 17 and\u00a0a\u00a0parent\u00a0of\u00a0each\u00a0teenager\u00a0surveyed. Researchers examined whether specific aspects of the teen\u2013dog relationship\u2014such as\u00a0affection,\u00a0companionship, caring for the dog, emotional support, friction, and viewing the dog as a substitute for people\u2014were linked to different coping styles.<\/p>\n

The findings suggest that the nuances of a teen\u2019s unique relationship with their dog<\/strong> may affect how a pet\u00a0dog\u00a0contributes to healthy\u00a0development, sometimes in unexpected ways.\u00a0For example, the\u00a0researchers\u00a0expected\u00a0that\u00a0feeling\u00a0emotional support\u00a0from a dog\u00a0would\u00a0be\u00a0linked\u00a0more often\u00a0to\u00a0healthier\u00a0coping\u00a0strategies\u00a0and less\u00a0often\u00a0to\u00a0maladaptive ones.\u00a0However, the\u00a0results\u00a0indicated\u00a0the opposite: feelings of\u00a0emotional support\u00a0were\u00a0less\u00a0likely to be\u00a0associated with positive thinking\u00a0and more\u00a0likely to\u00a0be\u00a0associated\u00a0with\u00a0persistently\u00a0dwelling\u00a0on\u00a0negative\u00a0thoughts.<\/p>\n

The researchers\u00a0undertook\u00a0the study to assess how\u00a0dogs\u00a0may help\u00a0teens\u00a0cope with social stressors in a positive way during a life stage that can\u00a0feel\u00a0a bit like an emotional rollercoaster.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring\u00a0adolescence,\u00a0teenagers\u00a0develop\u00a0their sense of self,\u201d said\u00a0Megan Mueller<\/a>,\u00a0Ph.D.,\u00a0the study\u2019s senior author\u00a0and\u00a0an\u00a0associate\u00a0professor in the Department of Comparative Pathobiology at Cummings School.\u00a0\u201cTeenagers undergo\u00a0a\u00a0natural shift,\u00a0with\u00a0peers\u00a0replacing\u00a0parents as\u00a0their\u00a0primary relationships.\u00a0There\u2019s\u00a0naturally\u00a0some emotional churn during\u00a0this transition,\u00a0which\u00a0can cause a lot of\u00a0anxiety\u00a0for some kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDogs in many ways bridge\u00a0the\u00a0space<\/strong> between family and\u00a0peers,\u201d continued Mueller,\u00a0who is also\u00a0director of the\u00a0Pets and Wellbeing (PAW) Lab<\/a>\u00a0at Cummings School.\u00a0\u201cThey\u2019re\u00a0obviously\u00a0not your parents, but\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0part of the family\u00a0unit\u00a0and may serve as\u00a0a familiar\u00a0source\u00a0of comfort.\u00a0We were curious if relationships with companion animals,\u00a0and dogs in particular,\u00a0may be one way of supporting effective coping through social support and emotion regulation.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the study,\u00a0the researchers\u00a0selected\u00a0teen participants\u00a0with\u00a0high levels\u00a0of social anxiety.\u00a0Both teens and parents\u00a0responded\u00a0to\u00a0questionnaires\u00a0collecting\u00a0data about the teen\u2019s relationship with their dog and how the teen copes with stress from peers. The\u00a0scientists\u00a0used statistical models to\u00a0identify\u00a0links between specific aspects of the dog-human relationship and various coping behaviors\u00a0reported by the\u00a0teens and parents.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to see\u00a0if certain\u00a0dog-relationship qualities\u00a0were\u00a0associated with\u00a0either\u00a0productive\u00a0or\u00a0less-effective\u00a0coping strategies,\u201d said\u00a0Nicole Mason<\/a>, the study\u2019s lead author and a Ph.D.\u00a0student at Cummings School.<\/p>\n

The study found that companionship and\u00a0caring for the dog\u00a0both\u00a0were\u00a0linked to adolescents coping with peer stress in healthier ways,<\/strong> such as\u00a0through problem solving, positive thinking, emotional regulation, and emotional expression.<\/p>\n

Feeling\u00a0affection toward\u00a0a\u00a0dog\u00a0was\u00a0not significantly associated with either healthier or less-healthy coping styles.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Friction\u2014like\u00a0getting frustrated\u00a0over a\u00a0dog\u2019s shoe-chewing\u00a0habit\u2014was\u00a0linked to\u00a0less-healthy coping\u00a0strategies\u00a0for peer stress, such as avoidance, denial, rumination, and emotional numbing.<\/p>\n

Viewing\u00a0dogs\u00a0as\u00a0substitutes\u00a0for people\u2014for example, reporting\u00a0that the\u00a0pet\u00a0dog\u00a0is a more important friend than any peer\u2014also\u00a0was linked\u00a0to less-healthy coping strategies.\u00a0\u201cOne possible explanation is that a\u00a0dog\u00a0becoming\u00a0a teen\u2019s main source of social support\u00a0may reflect a lack of other social connections,\u201d\u00a0said Mueller.<\/p>\n

\u201cFuture studies will help us understand that relationship\u00a0and other\u00a0potential\u00a0dynamics at play\u00a0more clearly,\u201d\u00a0Mueller said.\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re now following teens and their dogs over time to better understand how these relationships develop and whether factors such as a dog\u2019s personality, behavior, and compatibility with a teen influence\u00a0their\u00a0coping and well-being.”<\/p>\n

Citation\u00a0and disclaimer<\/p>\n

Citation:\u00a0Research reported in this article was supported by the National Institutes of Health\u2019s\u00a0Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development\u00a0under award number\u00a0R01HD109808. Complete information on\u00a0authors,\u00a0methodology, limitations, and conflicts of interest is available in the published paper.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

About one in\u00a010\u00a0teenagers experience social anxiety\u2014persistent\u00a0and disruptive\u00a0worries about\u00a0being judged by\u00a0their classmates and other peers. In a\u00a0new\u00a0study\u00a0of adolescents with social anxiety, researchers at\u00a0Cummings\u00a0School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University\u00a0found that certain qualities of teens\u2019 relationships with their pet dogs were associated with healthier ways of coping with peer-related stress. The study, published in the\u00a0Journal of Adolescence,… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":34409,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"no","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"off","neve_meta_content_width":70,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[345,5,9,333],"tags":[123,178,772,517,840,62],"class_list":["post-34408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-depression-2","category-emotions","category-parenting","category-pets","tag-anxiety","tag-coping","tag-dogs","tag-pets","tag-relating","tag-stress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34408"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34410,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34408\/revisions\/34410"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}