The Complex Relationship Between Pet Ownership, Stress, and Loneliness During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Survey

summary: During the COVID-19 pandemic, dog and cat owners in the United States have grown even closer to their pets, even though pet ownership does not consistently relieve stress and loneliness. The relationship between mental health and pet ownership is complex, with dog owners experiencing greater reductions in stress and loneliness than cat owners and non-pet owners.

Key Facts:

1. During the COVID-19 pandemic, dog and cat owners in the United States have grown even closer to their pets.
2. Dog owners experienced greater reductions in stress and loneliness during the reopening and recovery period than cat owners and non-pet owners.
3. Pet ownership has not consistently relieved stress and loneliness during the pandemic, but pet owners report less loneliness associated with romantic relationships than non-pet owners.

source: Plus

A new analysis shows that during the COVID-19 pandemic, dog and cat owners in the United States have grown even closer to their pets, and the complex relationship between pet ownership, stress, and loneliness has been uncovered.

Niwako Ogata and Hsin-Yi Weng of Purdue University in the US and their colleagues have presented these findings in the open access journal Add one On April 26, 2023.

The COVID-19 pandemic provided a unique environment for exploring relationships with pet owners and the potential link between pet ownership and mental health. Many previous studies have investigated this topic in the context of epidemics, but with limited scope.

Ogata and Weng conducted a series of surveys to capture the dynamics of dog and cat ownership in the United States—before the pandemic, during the lockdown period from April to June 2020, reopening from September to December 2020, and the recovery period from January to December 2021.

The survey included questions about participants’ closeness to the pet they felt most connected to, levels of stress and loneliness, demographics, living conditions, personality and other potentially relevant factors. Participants included 1,266 people with dogs and cats, 1,186 with dogs only, 1,128 with cats only, and 657 without pets.

Statistical analysis of survey responses showed that dog and cat owners became closer to their pets during the study period. However, the relationship between pet ownership and mental health is more complex.

Compared to cat owners and participants without pets, dog owners experienced greater reductions in stress and loneliness during the reopening and recovery period.

However, the researchers found no statistically strong evidence that pet ownership reduced participants’ stress and loneliness levels during the pandemic, and cat owners were generally more stressed and lonely than other participants.

However, separating the different types of loneliness shows that, compared with non-pet owners, pet owners report less loneliness in relation to romantic relationships specifically.

Further analysis showed that the differences in outcomes seen in dog versus cat owners could be explained by differences in pet owner relationships between these two groups.

Researchers will continue to collect similar data through 2023 to capture further changes in relationships with pet owners, stress and loneliness.

The authors added: “People feel close to their pets during the COVID-19 pandemic even though pet ownership does not relieve stress and loneliness. Dog ownership and cat ownership impact mental health differently, but the differences between the two can be explained in part by the owner’s relationship.” And her pets.”

Funding: This study was primarily funded by the Morris Animal Foundation (grant number: D22FE-041, accepted by HYW; URL of funder’s website: https://www.morrisanimalfoundation.org/). The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or manuscript preparation.

About that stress and mental health research news

author: Hana Abdullah
source: Plus
communication: Hanna Abdullah – More
picture: Image credited to Neuroscience News

Original search: open access.
“Temporal patterns of pet-owner relationships, stress, and loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the impact of pet ownership on mental health: a longitudinal surveyBy Hsin-Yi Weng et al. Add one

summary

Temporal patterns of pet-owner relationships, stress, and loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the impact of pet ownership on mental health: a longitudinal survey

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected us in many ways and can therefore impact our relationships with pet dogs and cats.

We conducted a longitudinal survey examining temporal patterns of pet-owner relationships, stress, and loneliness during the four phases of the pandemic: 1) pre-pandemic (February 2020), 2) closure (April to June 2020), 3) reopening (September to December 2020). ), and 4) Recovery (January 2021 to December 2021). We also investigated the effect of pet ownership on stress and loneliness, by looking at cohorts a priori causal assumptions.

Additionally, we hypothesize that differences in stress and loneliness levels between dog and cat ownership are mediated by the owner-pet relationship.

A total of 4,237 participants (657 non-pet owners, 1,761 dog owners, and 1,819 cat owners) completed between one and six surveys. In general, the closeness of the relationship between owners and their pets increased over time during the study period.

We also noticed that dog owners consistently demonstrated greater reductions in stress and loneliness levels than cat owners and non-pet owners. However, after controlling for confounders, the results do not support a mitigating effect of pet ownership.

Pet ownership does not relieve the social stress or loneliness caused by a lack of friendships or relationships at work, or the emotional loneliness caused by a lack of family connections. However, pet owners reported lower rates of emotional loneliness caused by helplessness in romantic relationships than non-pet owners.

Our results also show that differences in levels of stress and loneliness between dog and cat ownership are partly explained by the owner-pet relationship, and once this is taken into account, the differences between the two decrease. In summary, this research sheds light on the dynamic effects of COVID-19 on pet-owner relationships and mental health.

It also shows the complexity of the relationship between pet ownership and mental health, which is partly mediated by the pet-owner relationship.