‘The Pet Effect’: the role of pet ownership on well-being

06 December 2017

This study aims to assess whether owning a pet can have beneficial implications on the well-being of young adults. More specifically, it focuses on examining the relationships between pet ownership, pet attachment, self-compassion, empathy towards humans and animals, social support and psychological well-being (with a specific focus on depression-related symptoms). This study hopes to develop a greater understanding of the human-animal bond and be able to inform animal-assisted interventions.

Keywords

• Nottingham Trent University
• pets
• animals
• wellbeing
• psychology
• Attachment
• depression
• Health
• Self-compassion
• empathy
• social support
• perceived social support
• companion animals

Ethical approval

This study has been approved by the Nottingham Trent University School Research Ethics Committee on 1st December 2017.

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