This study explored the effect on cardiovascular reactivity during a stressful
task of the presence of the subject’s spouse and either friend or pet dog. In
light of evidence suggested that cynical hostile attitudes may undermine the
moderating potential of interpersonal support, the study also focused on
self-reported hostility and relationship closeness within marriage.
The hypotheses were:
that the buffering effects of social support during the performance of a
stressful task would be influenced by the nature of the support - dog or
spouse.
that subjects would benefit from the support of a pet dog whether their
cynical hostility scores were high or low.
120 couples who owned a dog and 120 couples who did not own a dog took part in
the study which was conducted in the participants own homes. All subjects
performed 3 stressful tasks (mental arithmetic, cold pressor and give a speech
about a stressful topic) in each of 4 counterbalanced conditions: alone; with
dog (or friend) and spouse; with spouse and all were asked to complete:
the Cook-medley Hostility Scale (Cook & Medley 1954)
the Multidimensional Anger Inventory (Siegel 1986)
the Relationship Closeness Inventory (Berscheid, Snyder & Omoto 1989)
the Pet Attitude Inventory (Wilson, Netting and New 1987)
Measures of physiological stress response were heart rate, systolic blood
pressure and diastolic blood pressure. Out of all four experimental conditions,
the highest degree of cardiovascular stress response was found in the condition
where the spouse was present (p<.01). Next highest was in the alone condition.
Then came the condition that included the spouse together with either friend or
the dog and the least amount of reactivity was observed in the dog alone
condition (p<.01). These results applied to all 3 stressful tasks and were most
pronounced amongst subjects with high cynical hostility scores.
There was a significant positive correlation (.83) between self-reported cynical
hostility and closeness in marriage. All dog owners had moderate to highly
positive attitudes towards pets, as did 66% of participants without pets.
The conclusions are:
1. that the nature of social support is an important factor in understanding the
relationship between stress, social support and cardiovascular reactivity.
2. that individuals with high levels of cynical hostility, previously thought to
be resistant to the potential benefits of social support, can benefit from the
presence of a pet dog, perceived as a non-evaluative source of social support.
