This study was the opportunity to pull together the different pieces we've looked at in previous studies, but in a much more comprehensive way to get more depth.I have thought from the very beginning that we needed a longitudinal study of how adolescent development links to pets because we don't have that data. This allows us to follow families for a multi-year period, and we can see these transitions that we don't get to see in other types of study designs.
PAW Lab’s Teen & Dog Study Recognized
The first longitudinal study to examine the impact of pet dogs on teens with social anxiety builds on the lab’s previous findings
From getting outside for a walk to being a supportive presence nestled up on the couch, dogs can play a key role in helping teenagers cope with social anxiety. In the first longitudinal study of its kind, the team at the Pets and Wellbeing (PAW) Lab at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University is studying more than 500 teenagers with social anxiety over five years to determine specific ways that pet dogs can help them learn coping skills.
The paper outlining the study, "Longitudinal idiographic assessment of adolescent-dog relationships and adaptive coping for youth with social anxiety: The Teen & Dog Study protocol," was published in the October 2025 edition of the journal PLOS One.
Funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Waltham Petcare Science Institute, the Teen & Dog Study follows 514 adolescents with high social anxiety and their pet dogs for 5 years. The teens range in age from 13 to 17 years old and come from a mix of urban, rural, and suburban areas across 44 states. Two years into the study, the PAW Lab team has already analyzed the first year of data and produced papers currently under review. After concluding data collection at the end of 2028, the team will begin the longitudinal analysis.
The PAW Lab, part of Cummings School's Center for Animals and Public Policy, conducts research into human-animal interactions (HAI) and has published a number of studies about the positive impact of pet dogs on youths and families. The director of the PAW Lab and lead author of the paper is Megan Mueller, A08, G10, VG13 (Ph.D.) (she/her). Mueller is an associate professor of human-animal interaction in the Department of Comparative Pathobiology at Cummings School and an associate professor at Tufts Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life. Mueller teaches in Cummings School's Master of Science in Animals and Public Policy (MAPP) program and co-directs Tufts' Initiative for Human-Animal Interaction.
"Social anxiety is one of the most prevalent anxiety disorders; it's very common in adolescents," says Mueller. "It is often underdiagnosed because people view it as the stress of being a teenager, but this type of anxiety can be really challenging for a lot of teenagers. We're focusing on whether dogs can be helpful in supporting adaptive coping."
Adaptive coping skills are positive ways to handle stress so that stress does not lead to anxiety. Social anxiety takes root in adolescence and is more pervasive than ever, particularly in the wake of COVID-19 and the social isolation experienced by so many. Without proper coping mechanisms, social anxiety can persist through adulthood and lead to other anxiety disorders, depression, and substance abuse.
The purpose of the Teen & Dog Study is to evaluate the physiological, emotional, and social wellbeing of teenagers based on their interactions with dogs and to identify the ways that pet dogs support coping skills. The paper explains, "Through the development of emotionally supportive bonds, interaction with a pet has been shown to foster social skills and prosocial behaviors, which are associated with decreases in anxiety symptoms."
The Teen & Dog Study evolved from prior research conducted by the PAW Lab demonstrating that teens often turn to their pets when under stress and that interacting with pet dogs can provide emotional and social support, facilitate social interactions, encourage positive behaviors, and reduce physiological arousal in a stressful situation. For example, dogs can elicit teens to replace an unhealthy behavior, such as ruminating on a stressor, with a healthy adaptive coping behavior, like taking the dog for a walk. Teens view pets as non-judgmental and often communicate their emotions to dogs.
“This study was the opportunity to pull together the different pieces we've looked at in previous studies, but in a much more comprehensive way to get more depth,” says Mueller. “I have thought from the very beginning that we needed a longitudinal study of how adolescent development links to pets because we don't have that data. This allows us to follow families for a multi-year period, and we can see these transitions that we don't get to see in other types of study designs.”
Their research also found that simply having a pet does not necessarily lead to less anxiety—the correlation depends on the quality of the relationship and other factors. The team designed the Teen & Dog Study to examine the features of the relationship linked to positive outcomes and identify challenges that could be better supported for families and their dogs.
"We have a nice spread of some people who have really strong relationships with their dogs and some who have less strong relationships. That was important to us to get different geographic areas and different types of people," says Mueller.
On the research team are Seana Dowling-Guyer, M.S., associate director of the Collaborative for Shelter Dogs at Cummings School, who is analyzing dog characteristics that might impact the relationship, Erin King, VG16, VG25 (Ph.D.), civic life coordinator for Cummings School and Tisch College, who conducts data analysis, former Cummings School faculty member Dr. Emily McCobb, V00, and Ph.D., graduate, and undergraduate students from across Tufts schools.
The team is collaborating on the study with researchers from the Youth, Media & Wellbeing Research Lab at Wellesley College, MaineHealth Institute for Research, and Boston University. The Wellesley lab conducts and analyzes interviews with the teens and their parents on how they perceive the youth-dog relationships. MaineHealth and BU assist with the arm of the study involving ecological momentary assessments over weeklong periods throughout the study, when the teens respond to phone prompts asking if they are with their dog and about their feelings of anxiety in the moment. These responses are paired with data collected from a wristband that gathers physiological data to determine if interactions with their dogs will decrease physiological arousal, anxiety, and loneliness.
"One of the great things about science is that it's a team sport, and it's great to work with people who have expertise in different areas," Mueller says of Teen & Dog Study collaborations.
Mueller started the PAW Lab as a research faculty member and recipient of the Elizabeth Arnold Stevens Junior Professorship at Cummings School. She began her studies at Tufts as an undergraduate and stayed on to earn her master's degree and Ph.D. in child study and human development, specializing the latter in HAI, researching animal-assisted interventions in adolescent development.
On the publication of the protocol paper in PLOS One, Mueller says, "It's great to have the methodology out in the world and for folks to know that the data exist. We hope it will be a resource for other researchers who are interested in different questions."
The Teen & Dog Study will serve to educate healthcare providers and mental health clinicians about the positive implications of youth and dog interactions, providing specific recommendations for professionals and families of teenagers with social anxiety.
"We want to support resilience," says Mueller. "We want teenagers to have the skills they need to thrive in the face of challenges, because that sets them up long-term for having healthy habits into adulthood."