The Influence Animals Have on College Students Mental Health
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Haley Allen
College:
The College of Health Professions and Human Services
Major:
Forensic Psychology
Faculty Research Advisor(s):
Christine Doyle
Abstract:
Do animals influence college students' mental health? Animals tend to be a major portion of many peoples lives and most believe that animals play a role in their mental health. There were 44 participants, who were asked to answer demographic, multiple choice, scale, and select all that apply survey questions in relation to mental health and animal interactions. Out of the participants, 4.5% experience moments of stress, anxiety, depression, etc. not much at all, while 27.3% experience it daily. When these participants interacted with animals, 2.3% mentally felt stressed, where 62.8% felt content. A series of Independent Sample t-Tests were used to analyze the hypothesis that animals have a positive influence on college students mental health. An alpha level of .05 was used on all statistical tests. There was no significant difference between people who had an emotional support animal (M=4.17, SD=.753) and those that didn’t (M=3.55, SD=1.16) in terms of daily stress or anxiety, t(42)=1.253, p=.ns. There was no significant difference between people who had an emotional support animal (M=4.83, SD=.408) and those that didn’t (M=4.35, SD=.978) after interacting with an animal, t(41)=1.181, p=.ns. With the limited sample size, the study is not significant, but is trending toward significance.