Support from animals may feel stronger for women and those spending more time with them

In a study of Swiss adults, women and people who spent more time with a pet or another animal to which they might feel close reported feeling more attached to the animal and receiving more socioemotional support from it. However, the study found little evidence of links between pet ownership and participants’ overall well-being. Rahel Marti of the University of Basel, Switzerland, and colleagues present these findings in the open access journal PLOS One on July 29, 2026.

Despite the widespread assumption that pet ownership benefits owners’ health, research on this possibility is inconclusive. Prior evidence suggests that links between health and pet ownership may involve interactions among many factors, such as animal species, owners’ sociodemographic characteristics and particulars of the human-animal relationship.

However, few studies have examined all these factors at once. To address that gap, Marti and colleagues analyzed survey data from 2,328 Swiss adults. They investigated whether factors such as pet ownership, regular animal contact and attachment to an animal were statistically linked to aspects of well-being, such as physical health, social support and loneliness. They also examined links between participants’ demographic characteristics and their relationships with animals.

Attachment varied across groups

The analysis revealed some demographic links. For instance, women, participants who spent more time with an animal and those interacting with dogs tended to feel more attached to the animal and more socioemotionally supported by it.

The researchers found no overarching association between participants’ health and pet ownership or regular animal contact. However, some links emerged. For instance, pet owners tended to report being less healthy and smoking cigarettes slightly more often than nonowners. Participants who felt more supported by an animal reported lower psychological well-being and more loneliness. Participants who spent more time with an animal reported higher psychological well-being and more frequent smoking.

Limits of a simple ownership measure

This study does not confirm any cause-and-effect relationship. For example, the authors note that while it is possible pet ownership leads to worse health, it is also possible that less healthy Swiss people are more likely to obtain pets.

As this is a cross-sectional survey conducted in only one country, future research could address some of the study’s limitations, such as by including objective data and participants from other countries.

The authors add, “Our findings suggest that simply owning a pet is not associated with better health or well-being. Instead, we found that the relationship people have with their animals is much more nuanced than a simple yes-or-no question of pet ownership. Two people may both own a dog, but their relationships with that dog can be very different. Our findings suggest that understanding these differences may be more informative than simply comparing pet owners with non-pet owners.”

“Rather than asking whether someone owns a pet, future research should consider how people interact with their animals and what role the animal plays in their lives. What appeared to matter in some cases was not pet ownership itself, but whether people experienced their animal as a source of socioemotional support and how much time they spent together.”

“The inconsistent findings reported in previous studies may partly reflect the fact that pet ownership is often treated as a simple yes-or-no variable. Our results suggest that pet ownership is a multidimensional construct that includes characteristics of the owner, the animal and their relationship.”

Who’s behind this story?

Gaby Clark

MA in English, copy editor since 2021 with experience in higher education and health content. Dedicated to trustworthy science news.

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Robert Egan

Bachelor’s in mathematical biology, Master’s in creative writing. Well-traveled with unique perspectives on science and language.

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