Pet Companionship for Learning and Academic Anxiety in Middle School Students: The Effect of Pet Attachment on Academic Anxiety

Abstract

With the increasing demands of the society on middle school students and the continuous reform of the examination system, middle school students are facing great learning pressure and challenges. As a result, academic anxiety has gradually become one of the common psychological problems among middle school students. Meanwhile, with the development of society, increasing families are willing to accept pets as one of their family members. This study investigated whether the attachment relationship between middle school students and their pets can alleviate their academic anxiety through a case study of middle school students with pet companionship. To this end, this study conducted semi-structured interviews among 6 middle school students aged 14 to 16, and analyzed the interview results to verify whether pet companionship can alleviate middle school students' academic anxiety. The study results show that pet companionship can have a significantly positive effect on reduced academic anxiety when middle school students face large-volume learning tasks, but this effect shows no significance when adolescents face difficult learning tasks. Limitations of pet companionship are also discussed.