New research explores how pets impacted isolation, anxiety, and depression during the pandemic, challenging common beliefs about the “Lassie effect” and “cat lady” myth.

Study: No beneficial associations between living with a pet and mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic in a large UK longitudinal sample. Image Credit: Chendongshan / Shutterstock.com

A recent Mental Health and Prevention study assesses the relationship between pet ownership during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and mental health outcomes like isolation, loneliness, anxiety, and depression.

How do pets support human health?

For several years, researchers have been examining the potential benefits associated with pets for human health. For example, a previous study observed that one year following a heart attack, 6% of pet owners died as compared to 28% of non-pet owners, thus suggesting the companionship benefits of having pets.

Similar beneficial effects have been observed in a study of stockbrokers with hypertension. Nevertheless, these results are inconclusive, as other studies have reported conflicting findings with both null and opposite associations.

In the United Kingdom, pet ownership was relatively stable between 2011-2012 and 2017-2018 at 45-47% of households. However, a surge in pet ownership occurred in the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic, which motivated several cross-sectional studies to determine whether pet ownership had a protective effect on health, specifically mental health. Importantly, many of these cross-sectional studies had small sample sizes, which prevented meaningful inference.

About the study

The current study utilized a large longitudinal sample from the U.K. to explore the associations between pet ownership and mental health. Important demographic factors were controlled to account for confounding effects.

Four variables that were theoretically or empirically linked to pet ownership including symptoms of anxiety, depression, anhedonia, and loneliness were examined for an overall “pet effect.” After the first assessment, three-, six-, and 12-month follow-up visits were conducted.

These visits allowed researchers to examine the “Lassie effect” during COVID-19, whereby dog owners are expected to exercise more and have a better daily structure as compared non-owners, both of which are important factors closely related to mental health. The “cat lady” notion was also tested, which suggests that cat owners are at a greater risk of negative mental health outcomes. Symptoms of mental health disorders were assessed through a patient questionnaire.

Study findings

The study participants ranged in age from 16 to over 71 years, 85% of whom were female, 78% reported living with others, and 62% were in a relationship. About 47% of the study cohort had children.

At baseline, about 54% of individuals reported having a pet, the most common of which were cats and dogs. At the first assessment point, small but significant effects of pet ownership were associated with depression symptoms; with pet owners reporting higher depression symptom scores as compared to non-owners.

Higher effect sizes were observed among younger and less educated individuals. These effects were similar in size for gender, living status, size of home, and marital status. No significant effect was observed for parental status.

A small effect was also observed for symptoms of anxiety, with higher anxiety symptoms observed among pet owners as compared to non-owners. Overall, these effects were similar to depression scores, except no significant effect was observed for living status and marital status.

Slightly higher anhedonia was reported for female and non-binary people, pet owners, those living in smaller homes, those living alone, those with lower educational qualifications, single individuals, and nonparents. The largest effect was with respect to age.

Concerning loneliness, there were significant effects in the same direction and magnitude as depression symptoms regarding living and marital status, age, and gender. Contrary to the results for depression, anxiety, and anhedonia symptoms, no significant effect of pet ownership was observed for loneliness.

Higher loneliness was observed among non-parents as compared to parents. Over time, a medium-sized reduction was noted in depression and anxiety symptoms. Smaller reductions were noted in loneliness and anhedonia symptoms.

Lower loneliness was observed among those living with pets, of an older age, who completed higher education, and parents. Controlling for confounding factors, cat and dog owners living alone had lower loneliness scores than non-pet owners living alone.

A statistically significant association was observed between exercise frequency and dog ownership. However, no difference in maintaining a daily structure was observed between dog owners and non-dog owners.

Females were more likely to own cats, which motivated research on the interaction effects between cat ownership and gender on outcomes of mental health. No significant interaction effect was observed between cat ownership and gender on depression, anxiety, loneliness, and anhedonia symptoms, thereby providing evidence against the “cat lady” effect.

Initial levels of depression, anxiety, anhedonia, or loneliness at the baseline did not predict subsequent pet adoption at the 12-month follow-up.