Pets Make People Happy (Science Proves It)

Anyone who uses pet food coupons know that the rewards of pet ownership far outweigh the costs. But now, there’s science to back that up – the emotional benefits of pet ownership can in fact be equal to the benefits of human friendship, according to findings by psychologists at Miami University and St. Louis University.

            The findings, which were based on the results of three separate experiements, were recently published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
            In the first study, 217 people filled out questionnaires to gauge their self-esteem, loneliness, illness, depression and activity level.  Survey respondents who own pets scored far better overall. They had higher self-esteem and were less lonely than those people who did not own pets.

            In the second study, 56 dog owners answered the same questionnaire from the first survey but also offered information about how they related to their dogs. In the cases where the dog was seen as a compliment rather than a complication, people experienced the greatest emotional return.

            "In fact ... we repeatedly observed evidence that people who enjoyed greater benefits from their pets also were closer to other important people in their lives and received more support from them, not less," the study says.

            In the final portion of the survey, 97 undergrads wrote about socially uncomfortable experiences and then about memories of their favorite pet. The feelings of exclusion brought up by recollecting bad memories were remedied by thinking about happy memories of pets.

            This may sound pretty groundbreaking – who knew that people who used pet food coupons were happier than people who don’t have pets? But other earlier studies elsewhere have also shown that pet ownership is linked "to decreased pain transmission" and found that the benefits pet ownership can especially be especially pronounced in people older than 50. All of this just goes to show that dogs really are man’s best friend!!!