SCIENCE@home

The Relationship Between Attachment to Pets and Mental Health and Wellbeing: A Systematic Review

Katherine Northrope,Joanna Shnookal,M. Ruby,T. Howell

Published 2025 in Animals

ABSTRACT

Simple Summary Pet ownership is sometimes, but not always, associated with better mental health, so it is necessary to consider factors influencing this relationship, such as the owner’s attachment to the pet. This systematic review examined 116 peer-reviewed studies that assessed the relationship between pet attachment and mental health and wellbeing outcomes. The results of these studies were mixed, with some finding that stronger attachment is associated with better mental health, some finding that it is associated with worse mental health while others found no relationship. Having a stronger attachment to one’s pet tended to be associated with better mental health when investigating outcomes in children, and when investigating outcomes related to wellbeing, compared to studies that investigated adults or outcomes related to mental health symptomology. The owners’ relationship with other people may also influence the relationship between their attachment to pets and mental health. However, as most studies were cross-sectional, we are unable to draw conclusions about the direction of causation of this relationship. Given that pet ownership is common, how this relationship may affect owners’ mental health and wellbeing and what factors may be influencing this has implications for the health of pet owners.

PUBLICATION RECORD

CITATION MAP

EXTRACTION MAP

CLAIMS

  • No claims are published for this paper.

CONCEPTS

  • No concepts are published for this paper.

REFERENCES

Showing 1-100 of 238 references · Page 1 of 3

123
Next

CITED BY

Showing 1-6 of 6 citing papers · Page 1 of 1