#Pets at home scales professional#

What is more, the number of such publications seems to have increased since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, as many studies examining this relationship have been released since that, e.g. Regarding lack of social support and pet affinity as general topics that do not only occur among individuals with AEE, this effect seems to be applicable to other populations as well.Ĭonversely to the larger part of research works that focused on these health-related outcomes, several articles also covered the association between pet ownership, loneliness, and social isolation, e.g. revealed that individuals with high levels of ambivalence over emotional expression (AEE), who tend to suffer from a lack of social support, can receive exactly this kind of support by their pets, especially in case of a high affinity to them. The association between pet ownership and social support may be particularly important among older people who did not marry, are divorced or became widowed, as they tend to show higher levels of attachment towards pets and have a higher probability of anthropomorphizing them, which could be related to previous findings that pets can buffer the negative effects of missing social support: For instance, Bryan et al. There are even studies which suggest that individuals with high attachment to pets do not perceive large differences between human-to-human and human–animal interactions. Regardless of the obvious differences between human-to-human and human–animal interactions, pets may partly satisfy these needs as well, providing some kind of social support that was shown to be related to physical and mental health variables. Ī widely used theoretical framework to explain such beneficial effects of animal companionship on humans is the so-called Attachment Theory, which assumes that humans have a need of being attached or belonging to someone.

Besides these general associations, the value of pets seems to further increase when their owner goes through straining times: for example, Siegel showed that individuals suffering from stress reported fewer physician visits when they owned a companion animal, and another study even revealed that pet ownership was associated with higher likelihoods of survival after cardiovascular events. Eventually, an investigation carried out in Australia found pet owners to be more likely to get in touch with people living in their neighborhood.

Pet ownership was shown to be related to lower levels of depressive symptoms and anxiety. In addition, pets may also enhance mental health components. This pet effect concerns physical, psychological and social health : For instance, in 20, two studies were published that revealed an association between pet ownership and lower levels of frailty and higher levels of physical activity. Research showed that possessing a companion animal can lead to various positive health outcomes-a phenomenon that has already been called the “pet effect” previously. After the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, the share of American households owning a pet climbed to an all-time high of 70%. Pets are widely spread in several countries, such as the United States: According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, two-thirds of the American households owned a pet in 2018, with nearly two out of five households possessing one or more dogs, and one quarter of the households at least one cat.

#Pets at home scales professional#

The Oxford English Dictionary defines a pet as “an animal (typically one which is domestic or tame) kept for pleasure or companionship” and hereby separates it from animals that one gets in touch with among natural or professional environments.