1. Pet ownership may reduce graduate student stress levels
Harmon, K.L., Dayanim, S.
Keiser University
Introduction
Results
Discussion
References
Data collection is ongoing. Thus far:
There is no significant difference in scores for non-pet owners (n = 18, M= 20.61, SD= 6.9), and pet owners, n = 46, M= 20.26, SD= 6.6, t(64) = .187, p = .693.
There is no significant differences in scores for non-pet owners (n = 18, M=20.61), those with cats/dogs, (n = 43, M= 20.02), and those with other pets (n = 3, M=23.67). F (62) =.158, p=
There is currently not enough data to examine Hypotheses H1c: Stress levels between online students and on campus students significantly differ.
The intended analysis to compare cat and dog owners to other pet owners was not conducted as the other pet owner group was too small for analysis (no pets, n = 18, pet owners, n= 46).
There was not enough data from online students to compare environmental factors such as online school versus on campus schooling. From the data collected of 120 participants, 64 of which would be used for analysis, there was only 1 online student, and 2 hybrid students. The rest were on campus students.
Even though a significant difference between groups was not found, there is a pattern between pet ownership and stress levels, where the participants with pets have lower stress levels, and those without pets have higher stress levels. The higher the number of the stress score, the lower the stress level is, and the lower the number of the stress score, the higher the stress level is.
There is just no evidence supporting that owing pets/ not owning pets is the reason for the change in stress levels. Further collection may better display this pattern.
Omitting participants who were married and/ or have children was necessary for the study to help focus on the possibility of pet ownership being a factor in the reduction or enhancement of stress levels.
Due to the inability to gather a larger sample of students (and particularly online students), the results are not generalizable, and a major limitation to the study is the small number of participants.
Data will continue to be collected to be able to complete examination of the hypotheses.
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Stress causes many health problems, including memory related problems (Lovell, Nash, Sharman & Lane, 2015; Mossello et al, 2011; Stony, Davis & Matthews, 1987). Stress related problems lead to a decrease in school performance for students (Kreger, 1995), thus gaining insights on possible factors involved in reducing stress is important. Past research indicates that college students have high levels of stress and that graduate students report higher than average stress levels (Cokley, 2013; Hammen & Cochran, 1981; Supe, 1998).
Among college students, research indicates that pet therapy is beneficial in helping to reduce high stress related symptoms such as high blood pressure (Somervill, Kruglikova, Robertson, Hanson, MacLin, 2008). In addition, pet ownership among the general population has been found to reduce stress levels (McConnell, Brown, Shoda, Stayton, & Martin, 2011). It is unknown if the same is true for the high stress levels among the graduate student population. This study aims to determine whether there is a relationship between pet ownership and stress levels for graduate students.
Hypotheses
H: Students who own pets will report lower levels of stress in comparison to those who do not own pets even when controlling for time spent with pets, and learning environment.
People who have both dogs and cats have less stress levels, compared to people with no pets, and people with both cats and dogs have even less stress than the individual cat and dog owners separately.
Methodology
Participants
Participants are adult (18 years or older) graduate students who are single, and do not have children (N=64). Participants were recruited through the Keiser University online graduate classrooms, posts on Reddit Grad School, college confidential, Facebook and the grad café.
Measures
Demographic Questionnaire. The questionnaire includes information concerning age, pet ownership (whether the participant owns a dog and/or cat), and time spent with their pets.
Perceived Stress Scale. Levels of stress were collected using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10, Cohen & Williamson, 1988). This stress scale is used to measure the level at which people view life situations as being stressful.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank professor Dayanim for her assistance in this project.
This project was funded by myself, and professor Dayanim.