Assessment of pet attachment and its relationship with stress and social support among residents in Mangalore city of south India

Abstract

Pets are known to play a supportive role in people's lives. However, their role in helping individuals to cope with stress and in enhancement of their social connectedness needs to be established. This case-control study was performed to compare the stress levels between pet owners and non–pet owners, to correlate the stress levels with the extent of pet attachment and to assess the relationship between pet attachment and social support among pet owners. Data were collected using an interview schedule among urban residents aged more than 12 years. The stress levels, social support, and the extent of pet attachment were assessed using standard questionnaires. A total of 122 pet owners from 108 houses and an equivalent number of non–pet owners from 82 houses took part in this study. The mean perceived stress score among pet owners (n = 122) was 24.8 ± 6.7 compared with 23.0 ± 7.0 among non–pet owners (n = 122) (t = 2.064, P = 0.04). The mean pet attachment score among married (n = 77) and unmarried/divorced/widow (n = 42) pet owners was 49.1 ± 7.7 and 55 ± 8.2, respectively (t = 3.954, P < 0.001). There was a significant correlation between the time (in hours) spent with the pet in a day and with the pet attachment score (r = 0.272, P = 0.003). The mean of the emotional component of the social support survey mean score was 3.6 ± 0.8 and 3.8 ± 1.0 among pet owners (n = 120) and non–pet owners (n = 122), respectively (t = 2.19, P = 0.029). There was a significant correlation between pet attachment scores and mean of the emotional component of the social support survey scores among pet owners (r = 0.211, P = 0.022). There was no association between pet/dog ownership status and frequency of morning/evening walks among participants. Pet attachment was greater among participants who were not married. Among pet owners, those with greater pet attachment were found to have higher mean of the mean scores of the emotional component of the social support survey. In other aspects, however, no benefits were associated with pet ownership.

Introduction

Pets play a supportive role in the lives of people. Their presence have been reported to improve coping with stress (Allen and Blascovich, 2002, RSPCA Australia knowledge base, 2015), lower anxiety levels (Wilson, 1991), lessen depression (RSPCA Australia knowledge base, 2015, The Health Benefits of Companion Animals, 2018), reduce risk of cardiovascular diseases (Mubanga et al., 2017), lower lipid levels (Anderson et al., 1991), maintain regularity with exercise and healthy eating behavior (Vesnaver and Keller, 2011), improve physiologic parameters such as hypertension (Allen and Blascovich, 2002, Levine et al., 2013), lower heart rate (Allen and Blascovich, 2002), and enhance social connectedness (RSPCA Australia knowledge base, 2015, The Health Benefits of Companion Animals, 2018). Its presence have been observed to enhance psychosocial and cognitive development, enhance self-esteem and empathy, and result in greater participation in social and physical activities in people of all age groups, including children (Daly and Morton, 2006, Walsh, 2009).

Serpell (1999) suggested that interaction with animals reinforces human values such as responsibility, caring attitude, behavior, and social support.

However, there are several research studies which have also reported that pet owners were not in any way better or even in certain instances worse than non–pet owners in aspects of health and happiness (Herzog, 2011).

Physiological parameters such as diastolic blood pressure (Parslow and Jorm, 2003, Koivusilta and Ojanlatva, 2006) and body mass index (Parslow and Jorm, 2003, Koivusilta and Ojanlatva, 2006) were reported higher among pet owners. Similarly, elevated cholesterol levels (Koivusilta and Ojanlatva, 2006) and greater risk of heart attacks (Parker et al., 2010) were seen more among pet owners. Even pet owners were reported to have poorer perceived health in several studies (Parslow et al., 2005, Koivusilta and Ojanlatva, 2006).

Presence of such conflicting evidence regarding health benefits associated with pet ownership derived from previous studies prompted investigators to assess the facts in the current setting. This study was therefore performed to assess stress levels among pet and non–pet owners, to correlate the stress levels with extent of pet attachment and to assess the relationship between pet attachment and social support among pet owners. Understanding of how pets might influence health of individuals will be beneficial for public health authorities in translating findings to appropriate policies as suggested by Saunders et al. (2017).