Social support is extremely important for physical and emotional health and well-being. To better understand this, scientists in Australia and the United States led by Lisa Wood studied the impact of pets on social connectedness.
They conducted a phone study with 2692 people in Perth (Australia), San Diego, Nashville, and Portland (USA) and found that 58.7% of people owned pets. Five times as many dog owners when compared to non pet owners were likely to know someone in the neighborhood they didn’t know before they lived there, most commonly those people who walked their dogs. Even general pet owners including those with small pets were 1.6 times more likely to know people in their neighborhoods compared to to non pet owners.
Further they found that almost half of pet owners reported
receiving emotional (talk
with about something that was worrying you such as a work or family issue),
informational (ask for information
such as, if they could recommend a tradesperson or restaurant),
appraisal (ask for advice), or
instrumental support (ask to borrow something, for a favor, or practical
health) from people they met through their pets.
Wood L, Martin K, Christian H, Nathan A, Lauritsen C, Houghton S, et al. (2015) The Pet Factor - Companion Animals as a Conduit for Getting to Know People, Friendship Formation and Social Support. PLoS ONE 10(4):
Have you connected with neighbors through your pets? Please share your experiences below.
Wood L, Martin K, Christian H, Nathan A, Lauritsen C, Houghton S, et al. (2015) The Pet Factor - Companion Animals as a Conduit for Getting to Know People, Friendship Formation and Social Support. PLoS ONE 10(4):
Have you connected with neighbors through your pets? Please share your experiences below.
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