Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Oct;57(10):1935-1957.
doi: 10.1007/s00127-022-02332-9. Epub 2022 Jul 11.

Pet ownership, loneliness, and social isolation: a systematic review

Benedikt Kretzler  1 , Hans-Helmut König  2 , André Hajek  2
Affiliations

Pet ownership, loneliness, and social isolation: a systematic review

Benedikt Kretzler et al. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2022 Oct.

Abstract

Purpose: Several publications explored a relationship between pet ownership and lower levels of loneliness and social isolation. However, to the best of our knowledge, no systematic review has yet synthesized the evidence on these associations. Thus, this systematic review aims to evaluate the findings regarding the relations between pet ownership, loneliness, and social isolation.

Methods: PubMed, CINAHL, and PsycInfo were searched in January 2022. Observational studies relying on appropriate instruments to assess the exposure and the outcome variables were included. Two reviewers independently executed study selection, data extraction, and quality assessment.

Results: n = 24 studies were included. Among adult samples, the studies examining the relationship between pet ownership and social isolation found that owning a pet was associated with lower levels of social isolation. Concerning loneliness, studies that were conducted after the outbreak of COVID-19 mostly showed that pet ownership can contribute to lower levels of loneliness, but did not reveal an overall significant association until then. In turn, the studies that examined child and adolescent samples suggest that pet ownership was related to reduced loneliness before COVID-19. Furthermore, most of the studies did not reveal any differences between dogs, cats, and other kinds of pets regarding their relationship to loneliness and social isolation.

Conclusion: All in all, only a part of the studies detected a significant association between pet ownership, loneliness and social isolation. However, the COVID-19 pandemic seemed to strengthen this relationship, so that future research is required to assess the longevity of this potential effect.

Keywords: Animal ownership; Loneliness; Pet ownership; Social exclusion; Social isolation; Systematic review.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
PRISMA flow diagram
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Oxford English Dictionary (2005) "pet". Oxford University Press. Available via Oxford University Press. https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/141778. Accessed 01/06/2022
    1. American Veterinary Medical Association (2018) AVMA Pet ownership and demographics sourcebook. 2017–2018 edition. Schaumburg IL
    1. American Pet Products Association (2021) 2021–2022 APPA national pet owners survey. Stamford CT
    1. Allen K. Are pets a healthy pleasure? The influence of pets on blood pressure. Curr Dir Psychol Sci. 2003;12:236–239. doi: 10.1046/j.0963-7214.2003.01269.x. - DOI
    1. Smith B. The 'pet effect'–health related aspects of companion animal ownership. Aust Fam Physician. 2012;41(6):439–442. - PubMed

Publication types