Many pet owners would say that their pets are a great source of happiness for them and that they make them feel less lonely and generally better. Indeed, several psychological studies have shown the benefits of having a pet for both physical and mental health. However, pet owners can also face incredibly difficult situations that can have negative effects on their mental health. So taken together, the relationship of owning a pet and psychological well-being may not be as easy as it seems at first glance. Thus, high-quality psychological studies are needed to explore this relationship further.
A new study investigated the effect of owning a pet on health and well-being from a new angle. The research team led by scientist Maxim Ananyev from the University of Melbourne, in Australia, analyzed data from the so-called HILDA survey (Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia). This survey has three major advantages over many other studies which investigated the psychological effects of pet ownership.
First, the study was longitudinal, and data were collected over many years. It started in 2001, and the data analyzed in the study were collected in 2018 and 2022. Thus, unlike in previous studies that only collected data at one time point, this study had two data points, making different statistical analyses possible than in other studies.
Second, the scientists conducted statistical analyses that compared data from Victoria, an Australian state in which a policy change allowed renters to have pets (which resulted in more people getting pets compared to other states of Australia in which such a policy change did not happen). This allowed for a more causal research design than in previous studies.
Third, in the study, a lot of different data points were collected, and the volunteers were specifically recruited to be tested about the effects of pet ownership. This study design may reduce biases. For example, if volunteers are recruited for a study with an announcement stating that scientists look for pet owners, mostly people who are happy with their pets, may apply, resulting in overly positive results.
The scientists analyzed data from 495 pet owners who could have any sort of pet, such as a cat, dog, horse, bird, or fish. All pet owners had filled out questionnaires on life satisfaction, loneliness, mental health, and general health.
Results of the study: Owning a pet, on average, does not affect life satisfaction, loneliness, mental health, or general health.
The data from the pet owners from Victoria were compared to data from renters in other states who were not allowed to keep pets and non-renters in Victoria. Surprisingly, owning a pet did not show any positive or negative effects on life satisfaction, loneliness, mental health, or general health. This does, of course, not mean that some people can have great increases in well-being due to having a pet. It just shows that across many hundreds of people, the positive and the negative effects of owning a pet across people average each other out. While some people benefit greatly from their pets, others also suffer worse mental health due to problems with their pets. While the results of this study are at odds with previous works, the large sample size and high-quality design ensure that the results are robust. It is, thus, likely that some previous studies on pet ownership and wellbeing have been confounded by biased data.