Although the relationship between pet ownership and health and wellbeing has received considerable attention in popular media, research on the topic shows inconsistent findings.
Research gap analysis derived from 4 psychology papers in our local library.
The gap
Although the relationship between pet ownership and health and wellbeing has received considerable attention in popular media, research on the topic shows inconsistent findings.
Consensus across the literature
Clustered from 4 gap mentions across 4 papers via embedding cosine ≥ 0.62.
Research trend
Established — well-defined area with open sub-problems.
Supporting evidence — 4 representative gaps
- Friends with benefits: On the positive consequences of pet ownership. (2011) · doi
Human interactions often provide people with considerable social support, but can pets also fulfill one’s social needs? Although there is correlational evidence that pets may help individuals facing significant life stressors, little is known about the well-being benefits of pets for everyday people.
Keywords: pets people social human interactions often provide considerable support fulfill needs there correlational evidence help - Perceived Human and Companion Animal Support as Predictors of Positive Emotions (2026) · doi
Although perceived social support is consistently linked to positive mental health outcomes, the relative contributions of different support sources, including companion animals, remain underexplored.
Keywords: support perceived social consistently linked positive mental health outcomes relative contributions different sources including companion - New Zealand Pet Owners’ Demographic Characteristics, Personality, and Health and Wellbeing: More Than Just a Fluff Piece (2020) · doi
Although the relationship between pet ownership and health and wellbeing has received considerable attention in popular media, research on the topic shows inconsistent findings.
Keywords: relationship ownership health wellbeing received considerable attention popular media topic shows inconsistent - Psychological Mechanisms Predicting Wellbeing in Pet Owners: Rogers’ Core Conditions versus Bowlby’s Attachment (2019) · doi
While pet ownership may confer physical and psychological health benefits, existing research presents inconsistent findings, and the psychological mechanisms through which health benefits might be conferred are unknown.
Keywords: psychological health benefits ownership confer physical existing presents inconsistent mechanisms conferred unknown
Explore this gap further
Search “Although the relationship between pet ownership and health and wellbeing has received considerable attention in popular media, research on the topic shows inconsistent findings.” across open scholarly engines for the latest related literature.
Working on this gap? Publish with us.
Science AI Journal reviews manuscripts in under 15 minutes with 8 specialised AI reviewers calibrated on 23,000+ real peer reviews. Open access, CC BY 4.0.
Free tools for your next paper
Related gaps in Psychology
- Numerous studies document lower levels of depression among adults with higher education, but little is known about the way in which the association varies over the life course.Numerous studies document lower levels of depression among adults with higher education, but little is known about the way in which the asso…
- Peer victimization is a frequent occurrence for many adolescents; however, some of the psychometric properties of self-report scales assessing these experiences remain unclear.Peer victimization is a frequent occurrence for many adolescents; however, some of the psychometric properties of self-report scales assessi…
- However, the data are often contradictory with respect to the prevalence of the phenomenon: depression may range from about 10-30% in the general population (Alonso and Lepine, 2007).However, the data are often contradictory with respect to the prevalence of the phenomenon: depression may range from about 10-30% in the ge…
- Our findings do not support an introduction of large-scale mindfulness interventions in schools although the potential influence of mode of delivery needs to be further examined.Our findings do not support an introduction of large-scale mindfulness interventions in schools although the potential influence of mode of …