How relationships with dogs can help teens with social anxiety cope
Longitudinal assessment of specificity in adolescent-dog relationships and adaptive coping for youth with social anxiety
This project explores whether close relationships with dogs can help adolescents manage social anxiety.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Tufts University Boston NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Boston, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11247080 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
You would be followed over time to see how your relationship with a dog relates to the ways you cope with social anxiety. Researchers will collect information about anxiety symptoms, the quality and context of dog interactions, and coping behaviors across multiple visits. The team aims to identify which kinds of dog relationships, which situations, and which individuals benefit most. Those patterns would be used to design more targeted supports involving dogs for anxious teens.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal participants are adolescents roughly 12–20 years old who experience social anxiety and who have or regularly interact with dogs.
Not a fit: This work may not help people who have no access to dogs, who are allergic or fearful of dogs, or whose anxiety is not primarily social.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the work could point to concrete dog-based supports that families and clinicians can use to help teens reduce social anxiety and improve coping.
How similar studies have performed: Prior research on pets and mental health is mixed, so this project is relatively new in specifying which teens and which dog relationships actually help.
Where this research is happening
Boston, United States
- Tufts University Boston — Boston, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Mueller, Megan Kiely — Tufts University Boston
- Study coordinator: Mueller, Megan Kiely
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.