The pet connection: Pets as a conduit for social capital?
Introduction
Australians share their homes with nearly 30 million dogs, fish, cats and other pets (PIAS, 2002). In Australia, 64% of households are home to at least one pet (PIAS, 2002). Similar patterns of cohabitation are found in the UK (Brodie & Biley, 1999), the US (APPMA, 2003), and no doubt, many other countries. Pets are a great leveller, transcending racial, cultural, age, gender and socio-economic boundaries.
In a world of growing global uncertainty (Giles-Corti, et al., 2004; Sember, 2004) and violence (World Health Organisation, 2002), and a trend towards increased prevalence of single occupant homes (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2002), household pets will potentially play an increasingly important role in many people's lives, providing company and respite from the outside world. Moreover, as observed by Cusack (1988), pets live in the moment, and interacting with pets reminds owners of the joys and idiosyncrasies of living in the present, as well as prompting their owners to think beyond themselves.
There is growing interest across a range of disciplines, in the relationship between pets and human health. Interest to date has primarily focused on the links between pets and a variety of physiological and psychological indicators of individual health and wellbeing. The purpose of this paper was to explore the relationship between pets and elements of social capital; a community level construct that is increasingly being linked to health. Social capital has been conceptualised as the features of social life—networks, norms and social trust—that enable participants to act together more effectively to pursue shared objectives (Putnam, 1996), or, to facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit (Cox, 1995). There are many definitional and theoretical variations (Wall, Ferrazzi, & Schryer, 1998; Woolcock, 1998) on this theme, but networks, norms and trust, and some notion of mutual goals, actions or benefits appear to be core social capital ingredients.
Section snippets
Do pets contribute to better health?
The benefits of pets and pet–people interactions have long been the subject of anecdotes (Dembicki & Anderson, 1996) and intuitive belief (Brasic, 1998). Empirical research on the potential health benefits of pets has, however, accumulated over the last few decades. While some studies have failed to demonstrate a link, or have been hindered by methodological problems, the general weight of evidence suggests that pets enhance human health and wellbeing in a number of ways (Beck & Meyers, 1996;
What type of pets can benefit health?
Much of the literature refers to pets generically, and it seems that many of the attachment, companion and therapy-related benefits of pet ownership can be provided by a variety of pet types, including dogs (Carmack, 1991; Churchill et al., 1999), cats (Castelli, Hart, & Zasloff, 2001), birds (Jessen, Cardiello, & Baun, 1996) and horses (Edney, 1992). Favourable physiological responses in the form of reduced blood pressure have been observed in relation to dogs (Baun, Bergstrom, Langston, &
Social capital and pets?
While there is a burgeoning body of literature and research relating to social capital, and specifically, to social capital and health, the possible connection with pets has not yet been made. It is not, however, an implausible connection, as social capital has now been studied in relation to issues as diverse as sexually transmitted disease (Holtgrave & Crosby, 2003), farming (Sharp & Smith, 2003), smoking (Lindstrom, 2003) and financial lending (Ferrary, 2002). Nevertheless, social capital is
Study design
Based on qualitative research (Wood, 2000) and a literature review, a random cross-sectional telephone survey of adults aged 18 years and over was undertaken in April 2002. The survey was granted ethics approval by the Human Research Ethics Committee of The University of Western Australia, and the interviews were conducted by the University's Survey Research Centre. All respondents consented to participate in the study before any questions were asked or data recorded.
The study sample
Pet ownership
Of the 339 survey respondents, 59.0% owned one or more pets. This is comparable to other Australian data indicating pet ownership rates of around 64% (PIAS, 2002). In the total sample, 37.2% of respondents reported owning a dog, 28.3% a cat, 12.4% a bird, and 9.1% another type of pet. Among pet owners, 63.0% owned dogs. There were some differences in the age distribution of pet and non-pet owners , with 58.5% of pet owners aged between 30 and 50 years (compared with 41.0% of non-pet
Discussion
While the causal pathways surrounding the development and maintenance of social capital are complex and relatively unconfirmed to date, the results from this study suggest the merits of further exploring the inclusion of pet ownership in the mix of factors that may facilitate social capital.
Consistent with the findings of several other studies (McNicholas & Collis, 2000; Messent, 1983; Robins et al., 1991), we found that pets are positively associated with some forms of social contact and
Study limitations
As this was primarily a survey of social capital, the number of pet-related questions was limited by the breadth of the overall study. Further refinement of some of the questions relevant to pets could also be made. For example, the recent work of Collis and colleagues (2003) suggests that the casual social contacts and friendships established through pets may not translate into relationships that provide social support, but the wording of questions in this survey did not enable this
Conclusions
While there is an accumulating body of evidence drawing links between pets and health, the findings have not always been consistent, and researchers are still seeking to delineate the underlying mechanisms through which pets exert an influence on human health. Both the psychological and physiological mechanisms identified in studies to date, have primarily focused on the benefits accruing to individuals from one-to-one type interactions with pets. This study has taken an alternative view,
Acknowledgements
The telephone survey was funded by Healthway (Western Australian Health Promotion Foundation) (starter Grant no. 9304), with a contribution from Petcare Information and Advisory Service (PIAS) for some of the additional pet-related questions. The second author is currently supported by an NHMRC/NHF Career Development Award (Grant no. 254 688).
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