University students report high levels of stress. Although causal work is limited, one popular approach to promote stress relief is animal visitation programs (AVPs). We conducted a randomized trial (N = 249) examining effects of a 10-minute AVP on students’ salivary cortisol levels. Undergraduate students were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: hands-on AVP (petting cats and dogs; n = 73), AVP observation (watching others pet animals; n = 62), AVP slideshow (viewing images of same animals; n = 57), or AVP waitlist (n = 57). Participants collected salivary cortisol upon waking, and two samples were collected 15 and 25 minutes after the 10-minute condition, reflecting cortisol levels at the beginning and end of the interven-tion. Controlling for students’ basal cortisol, time awake, and circadian pattern, students in the hands-on condition had lower posttest cortisol compared to slideshow (β =.150, p =.046), waitlist (β =.152, p =.033), and observation (β =.164, p =.040). A 10-minute college-based AVP providing hands-on petting of cats and dogs provides momentary stress relief.
CITATION STYLE
Pendry, P., & Vandagriff, J. L. (2019). Animal Visitation Program (AVP) Reduces Cortisol Levels of University Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial. AERA Open, 5(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858419852592
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