While many of these behaviors were positive, teens also reported experiencing hostility online.
The team expanded the scope of their research to explore human-animal interactions and pet ownership.
Ultimately, they were surprised by the influence and overlap.
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Half of the participants reported having a pet.
The initial results helped Charmaraman and her colleagues determine where to concentrate their analysis.
On average, adolescents were much more attached to their dogs than they were to other pets.
These factors could indicate attachment level and the influence of pets on teens' social interactions.
Adolescents with higher attachment to their dogs were more likely to provide online social support to others.
Charmaraman says that this demonstrates a desire to be emotionally connected to other humans.
Adolescents also use pets and animals to describe who they are on social media.
Additionally, teens were more likely to post selfies with dogs than with human family membersespecially males.
Creature Comfort
Middle school can be an intense and stressful transition.
Teens often turn to their pets when sad or upset.
Between 2019 and 2020, 67% of U.S. households had a companion pet.
Dogs are also social creatures so teens can learn how love and friendship can be reciprocated if tended to.
Teens can receive social validation and feel confident that others will also accept them as they are.
She suspects he was the main reason why people visited her office.
They also plan to observe family dynamics and study how pets fit into the family system.
Relationships with pets are highly individual, just like relationships between people, says Mueller says.
Different teenagers may relate to different animals in unique ways, and that could contribute to self-definition.
2011;101(6):1239-52. doi:10.1037/a0024506
