Not only are dogs man's best friends, but having a pet for babies is good for their mental health, too.
The Huffington Post reports a new study published in the journal Preventing Chronic Disease found out that taking care of a pet dog at home decreases risks for childhood anxiety.
For the study, researchers from the Basset Medical Center, Dartmouth Medical School and University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center looked at 643 children from rural upstate New York in a pediatric primary care setting in a span of 18 months.
The researchers screened the kids' physical and mental health, body mass index, screen time and pet status by asking their parents to answer a comprehensive health risk screener. While it was possible for the parents' mental health states to affect their reports, the researchers also considered screening them for depression.
Although there was no significant difference among those with or without dogs in BMI, screen time and physical activities, results show that 21% of the children without dogs were bordering on having anxiety and related disorders. That's almost twice as compared to the 12% of children who have dogs at home.
"Pet dogs could reduce childhood anxiety, particularly social and separation anxiety, by various mechanisms," the researchers concluded, adding having a pet dog can encourage a conversation for children. Caring for dogs also reduces risks for social anxiety since talking about their pets can already be a start of something these kids could bond over.
"If exposure to pet dogs during childhood is inversely related to mental health problems, positive child-dog interactions could prevent the evolution of these problems into full-fledged disorders during adolescence or later life," the researchers added.
Aside from reducing risks for anxiety, having a pet dog at home was also proven to curb stress and increase release of happy hormones.
