Friends with benefits
On the positive consequences of pet ownership
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6203067 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Allen R Mcconnell (0000-0003-0827-7795, Miami University), Christina M Brown (0000-0001-5623-2650, Saint Louis University), Tonya M Shoda (Miami University), Laura E Stayton (Miami University), Colleen E Martins (0000-0003-2400-6039, Miami University), Colleen E Martin |
| Year | 2011 |
| Volume | 101 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 1239-1252 |
| Publication date | 2011-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-3514 • E-ISSN: 1939-1315 |
| Publisher | American Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1037/a0024506 |
| PMID | 21728449 |
| OpenAlex | W2139320294 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 189 |
| References cited | 44 |
Social support is critical for psychological and physical well-being, reflecting the centrality of belongingness in our lives. Human interactions often provide people with considerable social support, but can pets also fulfill one's social needs? Although there is correlational evidence that pets may help individuals facing significant life stressors, little is known about the well-being benefits of pets for everyday people. Study 1 found in a community sample that pet owners fared better on several well-being (e.g., greater self-esteem, more exercise) and individual-difference (e.g., greater conscientiousness, less fearful attachment) measures. Study 2 assessed a different community sample and found that owners enjoyed better well-being when their pets fulfilled social needs better, and the support that pets provided complemented rather than competed with human sources. Finally, Study 3 brought pet owners into the laboratory and experimentally demonstrated the ability of pets to stave off negativity caused by social rejection. In summary, pets can serve as important sources of social support, providing many positive psychological and physical benefits for their owners
Belongingness · Big Five personality traits · Conscientiousness · Extraversion and introversion · Interpersonal relationship · Personality · Sample (material) · Social support · Stressor · Applied Psychology · Clinical Psychology · Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior · Human-Animal Interaction Studies · Psychology · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment · Social Psychology
The Human–Pet Bond and Grief
La antropomorfización del vínculo humano-animal en las dinámicas familiares
The Effect of Dog-Assisted Intervention on Student Well-Being, Mood, and Anxiety
Family Member, Best Friend, Child or ‘Just’ a Pet, Owners’ Relationship Perceptions and Consequences for Their Cats
Human-animal interaction as a social determinant of health
A study protocol for a randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a dog-facilitated physical activity minimal intervention on young children’s physical activity, health and development
Adult attachment and transportation into narrative worlds
Psychological Benefits of Companion Animals
Caring For Their Pet More Than Themselves”
Consumer Considerations of Carbon Paw Prints in Evaluations of Dog Food Products
Getting Rid of the Dog”
Influence of Species Preference and Owner Gender on Attachment to Animals
Does Viewing Cats and Dogs Influence People’s Mood, Optimism, and the Desire to Have Children
The “far dog, near cat” effect in stray animal charity rescue and its mechanism
Humans' Bonding with their Companion Dogs
Toward a psychology of human-animal relations
Working the Dog
Loneliness and the Big Five Personality Traits
Unleashing the Furr-Recovery Method
The Brief Lexington Attachment to Pets Scale
He was like, my ride or die”
Companion dog acquisition and mental well-being
Family Bonds with Pets and Mental Health during Covid-19 in Australia
A cross-sectional study of frequency and factors associated with dog walking in 9–10 year old children in Liverpool, UK
Sense of Presence and Subjective Well-Being in Online Pet Watching
Human–pet interaction and well-being in mid-to-later adulthood
Companion Animal Ownership and Human Well-Being in a Metropolis—The Case of Hong Kong
Understanding the Link between Animal Cruelty and Family Violence
The Furr-Recovery Method
Social Connectedness Promotes Robot Anthropomorphism
Dog Ownership and Walking
Public perspectives on strays and companion animal management in Malaysia
Everyday Life Construction, Outdoor Activity and Health Practice among Urban Empty Nesters and Their Companion Dogs in Guangzhou, China
Exploring the role of service dogs for Canadian military Veterans experiencing suicidality
The influence of animal ownership on mental health for people with severe mental illness
Dog owners’ perceptions and behaviors regarding extreme heat and weather events
The struggle to juggle
Pet caregiver experiences of companion animal end-of-life care
Cat owners’ disenfranchised guilt and its predictive value on owners’ depression and anxiety
Breast cancer survivors’ experiences of pet ownership
A measurement equivalence study of English and Spanish versions of the Family Bondedness Scale
Human-animal bonds and mental health
More than dog walking
Dog training-related guilt
The evolution, challenges and future of veterinary hospice and palliative care
My ‘Perfect’ Dog
Love me, love my dog
“Childless cat ladies” and the 2024 US presidential election
The physical and psychological health effects of pet ownership among children in China
Development and validation of the Companion Animals Self-Expansion Scale
When support is “pawsed”
How do I love thee? The five love attitudes people hold toward their pets
Dog owners
How human-animal connections promote “mattering” among veterans living with syndemic pain and suicidality
Three’s company? Examining the association between dog ownership and intimacy, jealousy, and satisfaction in romantic couples
More than companions
Being well together
The role of pets in human and social service provisions
The impact of owner personality traits and cat lifestyle decisions on cat-related guilt
Animal hoarding cases in England
Shifting attitudes on animal ‘ownership’
Leisure with dogs in the UK
Outdoor leisure with dogs
The Benefits of Giving as well as Receiving Need Support in Human–Pet Relations
Loneliness and life satisfaction in pet owners
Competing motives in a pandemic
Man's Best Friend? The Effects of Being Rejected by a Pet
How do older adults experience pet companionship? A qualitative study of the affective relationship with pets and its effect on the mental health of older adults during the Covid-19 pandemic
The Perks of Pet Ownership? The Effects of Pet Ownership on Well-Being During the Covid-19 Pandemic
Being liked or not being liked
Social Exclusion
Spirituality as compensation for low-quality social environments in childhood among young Kenyan men
Consumer Reactions to Animal And Human Models in Print Ads
Pet dogs succeed where human companions fail
Dog ownership increases attractiveness and attenuates perceptions of short-term mating strategy in cad-like men
Barks and bites
Toward a Posthumanist Understanding of Wartime Suffering
Dogs as a gateway to the good life
Social life and social death
Human caregivers perceive racial bias in their pet dogs
Archetyping relationships with companion animals to understand disaster risk-taking propensity
Validation of the human–animal interaction scale in Chinese children
Symbolic providers help people regulate affect relationally
The “Pet Effect”
Companion Animals in Childhood and Emerging Adulthood
Companion Animal Attachment and Guardian Behaviors
On Altruism Toward Nonhuman Animals
A Longitudinal Study of the Relation between Acquiring a Dog and Loneliness
Older Lesbian Adults’ Psychological Well-Being
Measurement Equivalence and Convergent Validity of the Family Bondedness Scale
Labors of love
The Deep Affectional Bond Between Humans and Their Animal Companions
Bound by society
Companion animal bereavement
Investing in human–animal bonds
The Value of Pets
The Impact of Sustained Ownership of a Pet on Cognitive Health
The Possibilities in Problematising Social Connection as More-Than-Human
Why Eating Animals Is Not Good for Us
Acceptance and Rejection of Pets and Parasocial Others Cause Corresponding Changes in the Self's Perceived Relational Value
Toward a psychology of being.
Society and the Adolescent Self-Image
Ostracism
Getting a Cue
Positive Events and Social Supports as Buffers of Life Change Stress 1
Personality Dimensions in Nonhuman Animals
Creating Social Connection Through Inferential Reproduction
Pet ownership, social support, and one-year survival after acute myocardial infarction in the Cardiac Arrhythmia Suppression Trial (Cast)
Adaptive Responses to Social Exclusion
Normal personality assessment in clinical practice
Social Exclusion and Selective Memory
On seeing human
A Short Scale for Measuring Loneliness in Large Surveys
The CES-D Scale
Social Relationships and Health
Aids diagnosis and depression in the Multicenter Aids Cohort Study
Evaluating comprehensiveness in personality systems
Difference score correlations in relationship research
Wanting to be better but thinking you can't
The relationship between social support and physiological processes
Personality Correlates of Self-Esteem
Pancultural explanations for life satisfaction
Models of the self and other
How low can you go? Ostracism by a computer is sufficient to lower self-reported levels of belonging, control, self-esteem, and meaningful existence
Social surrogacy
On the experience of self-relevant feedback
Being excluded by one means being excluded by all
Whose self is it anyway? Self-aspect control moderates the relation between self-complexity and well-being
Toward a psychology of being
A Dog's Got Personality
Satiated with belongingness? Effects of acceptance, rejection, and task framing on self-regulatory performance
Stressful life events and use of physician services among the elderly
Attachment style and the mental representation of the self
Inclusion of Other in the Self Scale and the structure of interpersonal closeness
The revised Ucla Loneliness Scale
Attachment styles among young adults
An Introduction to the Five-Factor Model and Its Applications
Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment process
Why Does Social Exclusion Hurt? The Relationship Between Social and Physical Pain
The need to belong
The Mediating Effects of Attitudes Toward Homosexuality Between Secure Attachment and Disclosure Outcomes Among Gay Men
Society and the Adolescent Self-Image
A Global Measure of Perceived Stress
A Measure of Subjective Happiness
| Unique citing works | 189 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 13,5 |
| Citation span | 2012 - 2026 (15) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | Yes |
| Citation types | Neutral: 173 |