New research uses relationship science concepts to unravel the complex pet-effect on owners’ mental health.

The bond we share with our pets can be amazing, but it can also feel overwhelming, especially during challenging times. This double-edged sword has resulted in mixed findings from scientific research into the effect of pet ownership on owners’ psychological wellbeing. In an effort to better understand these contradictory findings, a recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Edinburgh explored the impact of three previously unexamined relationship science concepts on mental health outcomes.

Relationship science is the study of interpersonal relationship processes, such as the connection between spouses, or more recently, the bond between pets and their owners. Whilst relationship science concepts such as self-expansion, perceived responsiveness and insensitivity, and attachment have been well-established as predictors of wellbeing in romantic relationships, the two former concepts had until recently not been applied to the relationship we have with our pets.

New research into pet relationships

The study included 1,359 UK cat and dog owners who completed an online survey, capturing the following aspects of their relationship with pets.

Perceived pet responsiveness and insensitivity: how responsive or unresponsive an owner believes their pet to be.

Self-expansion: the increase in one’s self-concept by incorporating new positive content, resources, perspectives and identities.
Attachment: the bond between a pet and owner.

The study also captured several measures of mental health, including depression, anxiety and mood. Loneliness was included as a mediator between relationship dimensions and mental health outcomes. 

Pet relationships and mental health

The findings revealed connections between several relationship dimensions and mental health outcomes. Attachment, self-expansion and perceived pet insensitivity were all found to predict at least one mental health outcome.

The results also showed that loneliness mediated the relationship between pet attachment, self-expansion, and perceived pet insensitivity, as well as all of the mental health outcomes.

Pet insensitivity predicted higher levels of depression, anxiety, negative mood and loneliness. One of the main reasons for getting a pet is to gain companionship and emotional support, so the researchers suggested that perhaps their pet’s perceived insensitivity increased their negative mental health symptoms because of unmet expectations. They also pointed out that perceived insensitivity in human-human relationships is related to increased loneliness, stress, anxiety, and depression.

Pet attachment predicted higher levels of depression, anxiety, loneliness and lower levels of positive mood. This finding aligns with previous research that has found higher levels of attachment to be linked to higher levels of depression and loneliness, suggesting that increased pet attachment could reflect owners’ underlying psychological challenges.

Self-expansion predicted higher levels of positive mood and lower levels of loneliness. This finding is supported by previous research which showed self-expansion to be an enjoyable experience.

An exploratory analysis also revealed that the owner’s gender as well as animal type impacted participants’ pet attachment, self-expansion, perceived pet responsiveness and perceived pet insensitivity scores. Female owners reported higher levels of perceived pet responsiveness, pet attachment and self-expansion, as well as lower levels of perceived pet insensitivity than male owners.

Implications and next steps

The study demonstrates that relationship concepts often used to explain human-human relationships also influence the wellbeing benefits derived from owning a pet. The researchers shared their belief that, “These results provide a potential missing link in the variability of the results of the past literature.”

The results also highlight the fact that concepts previously thought to reflect a healthy pet-owner relationship, such as attachment, may be more complicated than initially believed. Instead, it is becoming clear that owners can be highly attached to their pets for multiple reasons, including leaning on their pet for social and emotional support when facing mental health challenges.

By building on these findings, it is hoped that future research can further disentangle the nuanced relationship between pet ownership and mental health outcomes in order to better support owners and pets.

Key research findings:

•  Perceived pet insensitivity predicted higher levels of depression, anxiety, negative mood and loneliness
• Attachment predicted higher levels of depression, anxiety and loneliness, and lower levels of positive mood
• Self-expansion predicted higher levels of positive mood and lower levels of loneliness
• Loneliness mediated the relationship between pet attachment, self-expansion, perceived pet insensitivity, and all mental health outcomes