A new study from researchers in the Netherlands and Belgium suggests that simple, everyday interactions with dogs and cats can make people feel better in the moment, but they may not consistently help in reducing stress in the way many assume.
Study Methodology
The research, published in Frontiers in Psychology, noted that 188 dog and cat owners participated in a five-day study using ecological momentary assessment. Ecological momentary assessment is the technique of capturing real-life emotions by conducting short surveys several times per day. In total, almost 8,000 surveys were conducted during the experiment.
Key Findings on Mood Improvement
The findings demonstrate a clear tendency: people who had contact with their pets experienced more positive emotions and fewer negative ones. In other words, when people spend time with dogs or cats, they feel happier.
Pets Seem Not to Act as Stress Buffers
The idea that pets can aid in handling stress is known as the "stress buffering effect" and is one of the most popular ones about pets. However, this study did not find clear support for this idea. No consistent association was revealed between pet contact and alleviation of the emotional effects of stress, regardless of whether participants experienced stressors during events or activities. Even when participants interacted with their pets, stress was still associated with negative emotions.
This finding supports other recent studies that show how, although pets have an ability to positively affect moods, there is mixed evidence of their effects on stress intensity reduction. Some inconsistency in the results concerning stress reduction has also been seen before. For instance, a review article on human-animal interaction published in Frontiers in Psychology suggests that animals can be associated with physiological relaxation responses, but the evidence on their effects on stress is mixed and not fully consistent.
Similar Emotional Benefits for Dogs and Cats
Another important issue considered in the study was the possibility of different effects on humans' emotions from dogs and cats. Generally, it is believed that dogs positively influence people's emotions more than cats as a result of their sociable nature and responsiveness. Nevertheless, the results did not demonstrate clear species-related differences concerning the improvement of positive mood, although a species-related difference was observed for negative mood under stress conditions.
As explained by the authors of the paper, this fact may mean that there is no connection between species and mood improvement. Instead, the effect on mood might come from interaction itself, regardless of species, cat petting, or playing with a dog.
Surprising Discovery Related to Cats and Stress
The unexpected result came when conducting the stress research, because while interacting with dogs had no influence on stress-induced emotional behavior, interacting with cats showed a slight association with higher negative emotions in stress conditions. It doesn't mean that cats cause stress; they may be associated with slightly higher negative emotions experienced in conditions of stress. Scientists recommend being careful with the conclusion and repeating the research in order not to draw too broad conclusions.
What This Means for People with Pets
The findings put an extra layer of depth to the popular perception that pets work as stress buffers. However, they point to a more particular function. Pets seem to improve daily emotional well-being through immediate mood improvement. But they may not act as a buffer that would minimize the effects of stressful experiences. According to the researchers, this should not lessen the importance of having companion animals. On the contrary, this underscores the fact that there are many ways in which they are beneficial.
The Bigger Picture of Human-Animal Relationships
It has long been observed that human-animal interaction has numerous positive effects, including lower levels of loneliness and enhanced psychological well-being. A review pointed out possible physiological mechanisms, for example, the release of oxytocin due to human-animal interaction, which might help in feeling more relaxed. Nonetheless, recent empirical research demonstrates that the emotional benefits of the human-animal relationship are situationally dependent.
The newest results show that interacting with animals is positively associated with a better mood in day-to-day situations, but not necessarily with a reduced stress reaction. Both dogs and cats seem to provide comparable emotional benefits, although some minor differences between the effects of different types of animals can be observed depending on circumstances. Pets do not appear to work as consistent shields protecting from stress in this context, even though daily interactions improved mood without clear changes in the underlying stress processes.
