New studies question the universal benefits of pet ownership on well-being

New studies question the universal benefits of pet ownership on well-being

A new study challenges the belief in a universal “pet effect” on human well-being. Using data collected during the CoVID-19 lockdown, researchers found no significant change in respondents' well-being when they acquired or lost a pet in their household. The results suggest that even in a time of extreme isolation, human animal bonds may not be as emotionally transformative as we like to believe.

People and their pets, a match made in heaven? Does adopting a new dog make you happier and less lonely? It is now commonplace to associate pet ownership with health and happiness for both humans and animals. Still, science has struggled to pin down the “pet effect” — a hypothetical increase in quality of life for those who surround themselves with cats, dogs or other companion animals. Just a few years ago, circumstances showed us a serious test of the importance of human-animal bonds - a global pandemic, Covid-19, which confined people to their homes and cut them off from face-to-face contact in both work and personal life.

Researchers from Elte Eötvös Loránd University examined how the acquisition and loss of pets were experienced during the pandemic and the short- and long-term effects of acquiring a pet on participants. The study was published inScientific reports. “Through a collaboration with a team of psychologists led by Zsolt Demetrovic and Róbert Urbán, we had access to a unique data set,” explains Eniko Kubinyi, head of the MTA-DELTE ‘Impuls’ Companion Animer research group. "During the COVID-19 lockdowns of 2020, almost three thousand people across Hungary took part in data collection three times, several months apart. We found that 65 people lost a pet and 75 lost a pet during the study, and decided to investigate how their well-being changed over time."

The researchers found little support for the romanticized view we hold of pet owners and their emotional well-being. However, after acquiring a dog, a short-lived increase in happiness appeared, but in the long term, dog owners' calmness, life satisfaction, happiness and activity levels were reduced. Most surprisingly, the researchers found that the loss of a pet left no mark on the well-being of their former owners.

Ádám Miklósi, who initiated the companion animal data collection, emphasizes: "We rarely have access to data documenting the spontaneous acquisition of PETS by people who were unbiased in their attitude towards pet ownership. Normally, pet lovers are identified and studied when the decision to adopt an animal already begins in the home personality. PET, is neither affected by the loss of the pet, nor is their well-being a strong predictor of that decision to purchase one."

What surprised me most was that having a new pet in the household had no impact on respondents' loneliness. Dog adoption is often promoted as a solution for elderly and/or lonely people. Shelters and pet food companies promote adoption as a way to alleviate loneliness. However, our research suggests that dogs offer no real solution to loneliness. In fact, they make the new owners more anxious. “

Judit Mokos, data scientist and one of the first authors of the paper

Kubinyi concludes that most people who live with a companion animal do not experience a long-term “pet effect,” nor do they bond strongly with their animal. It is possible that the dynamics of the pandemic have led many to make many impulsive decisions against their long-term interest, or that only certain groups that live on animal leaves, or older, older, more common, than petite times, in which to stress animals, or older, than petite, live in stressful times, in stressful times, in stressful times, in stressful times, in stressful times. “

It seems that during the Covid-19 pandemic, the emotional bonds that people have formed with animals often leave expectations behind.

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