And in the Middle of My Chaos There Was You?—Dog Companionship and Its Impact on the Assessment of Stressful Situations

Abstract

Recent studies show evidence that human-dog companionship has healthy effects on humans. For example, findings demonstrate that owning a dog leads to a reduction in stress levels. Aspects that have not been taken into consideration so far are underlying theoretical principles of stress like the sense of coherence (SOC) by Aaron Antonovsky. The SOC consists of psycho-social, biochemical and physical conditions which indicate whether or not inner and outer stimuli are comprehensive, manageable and meaningful to an individual. In addition, it is still unclear if owning a dog affects the subjective assessment of critical life events (CLE), which is associated with the strength of the SOC (the stronger the SOC, the better the handling and assessment of stressful situations). Based on these aspects, the goal of the study was to examine if dog ownership, as well as values of the SOC, have an impact on the subjective evaluation of CLE (including daily hassles as well as unexpected critical life events). For this purpose, dog owners and non-dog owners were surveyed online and were compared based on their personal estimations regarding these constructs. Statistical analysis including t-tests, correlations and interaction-analyses were performed and a significant difference between dog owners and non-dog owners regarding the assessment of daily hassles was found. Contrary to expectations, results show that dog owners assessed daily stressors to be more stressful than non-dog owners did. Moreover, data show that the higher the number of stated relationships (inner- and cross-species), the more stressful life events were assessed to be. Calculations showed no evidence for the influence of dogs regarding the SOC. Based on the actual findings, it might be assumed, that an overestimation of the dog’s protective role regarding stress has taken place in public media and in research as well.

The Relationship between Dog Ownership, Psychopathological Symptoms and Health-Benefitting Factors in Occupations at Risk for Traumatization

“…It has been suggested that companion animals enhance SOC levels through enabling positive bonding experiences. To our knowledge, there is only one study investigating the relationship between dog ownership, SOC, and subjective evaluation of critical life events, which found-contrary to expectations-no differences in SOC levels between dog owners and others [39].…”

“…We expected dog ownership to be associated with higher levels of health-benefitting factors because pet ownership has been associated with stronger social support and better emotion regulation strategies. However, up to date research on health-benefitting factors was scarce and the only study investigating the relationship between SOC and pet ownership did not find a significant association [39]. Moreover, the only study that assessed the relationship between LOC and pet ownership was conducted in individuals with physical disabilities, who showed an enhanced internal LOC six month after service dog adoption [47].…”

The State of Animal-Assisted Interventions: Addressing the Contemporary Issues That Will Shape the Future

“…While studies in support of animal contact receive media attention, a very large longitudinal cancer study showed a shorter survival time compared to non-owners, especially for female cat or bird owners [18]. Another example is the media often touts dogs as relieving stress but one study found the impact is somewhat exaggerated [19]. Also, while there was never extensive research money, there was more funding for animal-assisted therapy (AAT) than for general animal studies of basic science value.…”

Risk Factors for Severe and Fatal Heat-Related Illness in UK Dogs—A VetCompass Study

“…These will allow better responses to extreme heat events, reducing HRI severity and fatality [ 2 ]. Domestic dogs play important roles in society, including companionship [ 4 ] and fulfilling service roles ranging from military and policing to medical assistance. Climate change mitigation strategies must therefore include consideration of canine-specific risk factors to reduce HRI risk and severity in dogs and maintain the unique positions of dogs in human society [ 3 , 5 ].…”