Owning a dog may improve teenagers' mental health—study

Research has shown that having a dog may be good for the mental health of teenagers.

In a Japanese study led by Dr. Kikusui Takefumi at Azabu University and published in the iScience journal, a group of researchers found that teens who own dogs "have a higher well-being than those who do not." They also discovered that adolescent dog owners had "significantly lower" social problems than those who didn't, and had higher on "measures of companionship and social support" as they grew older.

"In addition, social withdrawal, thought problems, delinquent behavior, and aggressive behavior scores among dog-owning adolescents were lower than those among non-dog-owning adolescents," they wrote.

The study highlighted adolescence as a critical stage of brain development, noting that social interactions and the maturation of the prefrontal cortex can have long-term effects on mental health. The researchers cited studies showing dogs’ positive impact on owners’ well-being, while acknowledging findings with mixed outcomes.

A biological factor may also be involved, as children who own dogs have microbiomes that differ from those who do not. While the cause remains unclear, researchers said that bacteria from dogs may enter children’s microbiomes, altering the gastrointestinal environment in connection with psychological changes.

The study involved exposing mice to oral microbiomes from the dog-owning group to evaluate changes in social behavior. The researchers found that these mice spent more time sniffing other mice and were more likely to approach trapped cagemates.

“Although it is not possible to directly compare human and mouse behavior, these results suggest that the microbiota is partly responsible for the improvement in adolescents’ social behavior after living with dogs,” the results read.

The study was conducted among 343 teenagers in Tokyo—96 of them were dog owners.