The Presence of a Dog Attenuates Cortisol and Heart Rate in the Trier Social Stress Test Compared to Human Friends
Abstract
Limited research has addressed how social support in the form of a pet can affect both sympathetic and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal reactivity in response to a psychological challenge. The present study examined the effects of social support on salivary cortisol and heart rate (HR). Forty-eight participants were randomly assigned to three different conditions (human friend, novel dog, or control). All participants completed the Trier Social Stress Test and provided cortisol, HR, and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory measures. For participants paired with a dog, overall cortisol levels were attenuated throughout the experimental procedure, and HR was attenuated during the Trier Social Stress Test. For all groups, state anxiety increased after the Trier Social Stress Test, and HR during the Trier Social Stress Test was a predictor of cortisol. These results suggest that short-term exposure to a novel dog in an unfamiliar setting can be beneficial. They also suggest a possible mechanism for the beneficial effect associated with affiliation with pets.
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A dog's or cat's presence can attenuate cortisol levels and heart rate during psychological challenges.
“Additionally, a dog’s or cat’s presence can attenuate cortisol levels and heart rate during psychological challenges [10,11].”
From The Experience of Teleworking with Dogs and Cats in the United States during COVID-19 (2021) · cites this paper as [11]
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McDonald, S. E., Tomlinson, C. A., Applebaum, J. W., Moyer, S. W., Brown, S. M., Carter, C. S., & Kinser, P. A. (2021) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph181910114 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
“, laboratory setting or college animal-visitation program; [178,179,188]).”
BackgroundResultEmployee Attitudes about the Impact of Visitation Dogs on a College Campus
Foreman, A. M., Allison, P., Poland, M., Meade, B., & Wirth, O. (2019) · Anthrozoos · doi:10.1080/08927936.2019.1550280 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Gandenberger, J., Flynn, E., Moratto, E., Wendt, A., & Morris, K. N. (2022) · Animals · doi:10.3390/ani12050651 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
“Only three studies [12,45,49] mentioned sampling time of day as a factor in their study design, even though cortisol, sAA, and IgA are all known to fluctuate throughout the day [56–58].”
BackgroundResultInfluentialDoes Viewing a Picture of a Pet During a Mental Arithmetic Task Lower Stress Levels?
Ein, N., Hadad, M., Reed, M. J., & Vickers, K. (2019) · Anthrozoös · doi:10.1080/08927936.2019.1621524 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Allostatic load and canine companionship: a comparative study using biomarkers in older adults
Morales-Jinez, A., López-Rincón, F. J., Ugarte-Esquivel, A., Andrade-Valles, I., Rodríguez-Mejía, L., & Hernández-Torres, J. L. (2018) · Revista Latino-Americana de Enfermagem · doi:10.1590/1518-8345.2755.3071 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Harvie, H., Rodrigo, A., Briggs, C., Thiessen, S., & Kelly, D. M. (2021) · Animal Cognition · doi:10.1007/s10071-020-01460-6 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Dogs in the criminal justice system: consideration of facility and therapy dogs
Spruin, E., & Mozova, K. (2018) · Pet Behaviour Science · doi:10.21071/pbs.v0i5.10084 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
“…benefits, dogs have also been shown to affect human wellbeing in a variety of ways, such as through decreasing anxiety and pain (Barker, et al. 2015), attenuating cortisol and heart rate (Polheber and Matchock 2014), or promoting simple feelings of calmness and happiness (Carew-Lyons 2016).”
BackgroundAcoustic signal dominance in the multimodal communication of a nocturnal mammal
Zhang, C., Sun, C.-N., Lucas, J. R., Feng, J., & Jiang, T. (2021) · Current Zoology · doi:10.1093/cz/zoab089 · Cited by 9
“This increase in HR after social exposure to stressors has been explored in a number of mammalian species (Stöhr 1986; Jong et al. 2000; Polheber and Matchock 2014), including humans (Hamidovic et al. 2020).”
BackgroundMartos, R., Ordóñez-Pérez, D., Ruiz-Maatallah, J., & Martínez-Cobos, M. (2020) · Human-animal interaction bulletin · doi:10.1079/hai.2020.0010 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Vogel, J., Auinger, A., & Riedl, R. (2018) · Lecture notes in information systems and organisation · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-01087-4_31 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Williams, C. L., Emond, K., Maynord, K., Simpkins, J., Stumbo, A., & Terhaar, T. (2018) · OALib · doi:10.4236/oalib.1104831 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
“reductions in HR with animal-assisted interventions [14] [17], Kaminski et al.”
BackgroundReflections on Recent Research Into Animal-Assisted Interventions in the Military and Beyond
Rumayor, C. B., & Thrasher, A. M. (2017) · Current Psychiatry Reports · doi:10.1007/s11920-017-0861-z · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Healing Bonds: Animal Assisted Interventions with Adjudicated Male Youth
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Purewal, R., Christley, R., Kordas, K., Joinson, C., Meints, K., Gee, N. R., & Westgarth, C. (2024) · BMC Pediatrics · doi:10.1186/s12887-024-05049-7 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Pitheckoff, N., McLaughlin, S. J., & de Medeiros, K. (2018) · Journal of Applied Gerontology · doi:10.1177/0733464816680322 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Physiological effects of interactions between female dog owners with neuroticism and their dogs
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Evaluating Transferable Emotion Expressions for Zoomorphic Social Robots using VR Prototyping‘
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“Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) has shown significant benefits to anxiety, stress and well-being in clinical and non-clinical settings [8, 51, 47, 52, 75].”
BackgroundMarchand, W. R., & Sullivan-Sakaeda, L. (2022) · Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice · doi:10.1016/j.ctcp.2022.101660 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Canine Comfort: The Protective Effects of Dog Ownership and Support for Victimized Adolescents
Hull, K. N., Guarneri-White, M. E., & Jensen‐Campbell, L. A. (2022) · Anthrozoös · doi:10.1080/08927936.2022.2027092 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
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Facility Dogs in the Courtroom: Comfort Without Prejudice?
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“…participants who spent time with a therapy-trained dog before engaging in a stressful task had lower cortisol levels after, and a lower heart rate during, the stressful event than participants in the control condition or those who were accompanied by a friend (Polheber & Matchock, 2014).”
BackgroundStrengthening the Foundation of Human–Animal Interaction Research
McCune, S., Kruger, K. A., Griffin, J. A., Esposito, L. E., Bures, R. M., Hurley, K. J., & Gee, N. R. (2019) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-815395-6.00032-8 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Effects of Interaction with Virtual Pets on Self-Disclosure in Mixed Reality
Lim, S., & Dong, S.-Y. (2023) · Proceedings - International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality, ISMAR · doi:10.1109/ismar59233.2023.00014 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
“Polheber et al. [50] investigated the effects of animal-type social support on participants’ salivary cortisol and heart rate (HR).”
BackgroundExploration of possible sex bias in acute social stress research: a semi-systematic review
Rrapaj, A., Landau, A. M., & Winterdahl, M. (2023) · Acta Neuropsychiatrica · doi:10.1017/neu.2023.16 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“…Yes No Het et al., 2012 84 148 2012 No Yes No Kimura et al., 2013 9 30 2013 No Yes No Walser et al., 2013 41 41 2013 Yes No No Oei et al., 2014 0 37 2013 – – – Polheber and Matchock, 2014 22 26 2013 No No No Kimura et al., 2013 9 30 2013 Yes Yes No Wiemers et al., 2013 31 32 2013 No Yes No Pabst…”
The role of attachment in children’s relationships with pets: From pet care to animal harm
Wauthier, L. M., Farnfield, S., & Williams, J. M. (2022) · Human-Animal Interactions · doi:10.1079/hai.2022.0024 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
“suggest that attachment to pets operates through the same physiological pathways as human attachment relationships, including reduction in cortisol during interactions (Polheber and Matchock, 2014) and increase in oxytocin during mutual gazing (Nagasawa et al.”
BackgroundSilva, K., Castro, L., Santos, C., Lourenço, A., & Lima, M. (2020) · Pain Medicine · doi:10.1093/pm/pnaa438 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Exploring Service Dogs for Rehabilitation of Veterans With PTSD: A Microbiome Perspective
Hoisington, A., Billera, D. M., Bates, K. L., Stamper, C., Stearns-Yoder, K., Lowry, C., & Brenner, L. (2018) · Rehabilitation Psychology · doi:10.1037/rep0000237 · Cited by 6
- Authors
- Polheber, J. P., & Matchock, R. L.
- Affiliations
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Matchock, Robert L.
- Venue
- Journal of Behavioral Medicine
- Published
- 2013-10-30
- Volume
- 37
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 860-867
- ISSN
- 0160-7715 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-3521
- OpenAlex
- W2077223757
- Cited by
- 200
- References
- 58
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 24 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 2 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 4.86
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Journal of Behavioral Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Human-Animal Interaction Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies
- Keywords
- human-animal interaction, pet dogs, social support, salivary cortisol, heart rate, Trier Social Stress Test, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, state anxiety, stress reactivity, human-animal bond
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Animals, Anxiety, Dogs, Female, Heart Rate, Humans, Hydrocortisone, Male, Saliva, Social Support, Stress, Psychological, Friends, Pets
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