Beyond companionship: psycho-social benefits of pet ownership

作者：Jing Zhao, Mohammad Javad Koohsari, Jiuling Li, Yufeng Luo, Andrew T. Kaczynski, Gavin R. McCormack, Koichiro Oka, Tomoya Hanibuchi · 发表于：BMC Public Health · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1186/s12889-025-23464-y · 被引用次数：3 · 研究领域：Human-Animal Interaction Studies、Geographies of human-animal interactions、Rabies epidemiology and control

BACKGROUND: Pet ownership, which has increased over the last decade, can offer owners health benefits. However, relatively few studies have examined the psycho-social benefits of pet ownership, particularly across diverse contexts and types of pets. Existing research is largely Western-focused, and has paid limited attention to the potential interrelationships between pet ownership, pet types, and gender. This study planned to examine associations between various categories of pet ownership and multiple psycho-social benefits in a sample of adults from Japan. METHOD: A cross-sectional design was applied to investigate and analyze pet species and psycho-social health outcomes. Data were collected via an online survey conducted in 21 major Japanese cities during October to November 2020. Four pet ownership categories were analyzed: "non-pet", "dog", "other pet", and "dog and other pet". Gender-stratified multivariable linear regression models were applied to explore the associations between psycho-social health outcomes and pet ownership categories for both men and women. RESULTS: A total of 8,821 participants were included in analysis. The results showed owning both dogs and other pets was associated with higher neighborhood place attachment and social capital for both men and women. For men, owning other pets (excluding dogs) was positively associated with higher neighborhood place attachment and social capital. Dog ownership was also positively associated with social capital...