Longitudinal assessment of specificity in adolescent-dog relationships and adaptive coping for youth with social anxiety

项目摘要 社交焦虑症是美国最常见的焦虑症，特别常见 在青少年中。社交焦虑与青少年适应不良的发展结果有关， 包括孤独、其他焦虑症和抑郁症，而患有社交焦虑症的年轻人往往无法获得 心理健康服务一个具有高度临床和实用价值的领域是确定创新的方法来支持 适应性应对策略，这将有助于青少年管理社交焦虑。狗的陪伴 通过促进行为和认知能力， 与适应性应对相关的策略。然而，现有的关于宠物和 心理健康表明，养宠物既不是在所有情况下都有益，也不是适用的。 由于狗与青年之间关系的独特性和可变性，目前，有大量 现有证据中关于如何、哪些人、经历什么的特异性的差距 环境下，通过什么过程狗的关系可以促进适应应对青少年。这些 细微差别的数据差距限制了目前的转化影响以及设计和扩大干预措施的能力。我们 总体目标是通过确定这些具体方式来利用狗与青年互动的潜力， 关系可以优化，以支持适应应对青少年经历社交焦虑。到 为了实现这一目标，我们将使用多方法，综合的方法来确定：（目标1）纵向间， 狗-青少年关系和适应性应对之间关联轨迹的个体差异 与社会焦虑，（目标2）家庭层面的过程中涉及的听话的狗的关系，支持 随着时间的推移，适应性应对社交焦虑，以及（目标3）与宠物互动的瞬时影响如何 狗的影响不断收集外周生理作为指标的焦虑唤醒。长期 这项研究的目的是在一个关键时期减少社交焦虑的心理健康负担， 青少年社会发展通过狗的陪伴。通过确定过程和机制， 参与狗的互动和适应性应对，我们将提高从业者的能力，最大限度地适应 在青少年社会发展的关键时期，狗的互动支持的应对策略。的 结果将进一步使基于证据的建议，成功地利用狗的关系， 为未来涉及犬的临床干预研究提供信息。

Project Summary Social anxiety disorder is the most common anxiety disorder in the United States and is particularly common among adolescents. Social anxiety is linked to a host of maladaptive developmental outcomes for youth, including loneliness, other anxiety disorders, and depression, and youth with social anxiety often do not access mental health services. One area of high clinical and practical value is identifying innovative ways to support adaptive coping strategies that will help adolescents manage social anxiety. Dog companionship has the potential to be an effective strategy for supporting youth with anxiety by promoting behavioral and cognitive strategies that are associated with adaptive coping. However, the existing body of evidence regarding pets and mental health suggests that pet ownership is neither universally beneficial in all circumstances, nor applicable to all youth due to the unique and variable nature of dog-youth relationships. Currently, there are significant gaps in the existing evidence regarding specificity in how, for which individuals, experiencing what circumstances, via what processes dog relationships can promote adaptive coping for adolescents. These gaps in nuanced data limit current translational impact and the ability to design and scale interventions. Our overall objective is to harness the potential of dog-youth interaction by identifying the specific ways that these relationships can be optimized to support adaptive coping for adolescents experiencing social anxiety. To address this objective, we will use a multi-method, integrated approach to determine: (Aim 1) longitudinal inter- individual differences in trajectories of associations between dog-adolescent relationships and adaptive coping with social anxiety, (Aim 2) family-level processes involved in adolescent-dog relationships that support adaptive coping with social anxiety over time, and (Aim 3) how the momentary effects of interactions with a pet dog influence continuously collected peripheral physiology as an indicator of anxious arousal. The long-term goal of this research is to decrease the mental health burden of social anxiety during a crucial period of adolescent social development via dog companionship. By identifying both the processes and mechanisms involved in dog interaction and adaptive coping, we will advance practitioners’ ability to maximize adaptive coping strategies supported by dog interactions during a crucial period of adolescent social development. The results will further enable evidence-based recommendations for successfully leveraging dog relationships to inform future research on clinical interventions involving dogs.