Critical Review:

Why are pets good for health?

Lisa Beck, Ph.D
Department of Psychology, Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania 19010 lbeck@brynmawr.edu

The unusual combination of status and support in human- Social status and
pet relationships may account for the remarkable health social support are primal,
benefits of pet ownership. fundamental dimensions of
social interaction
•In personality theory (Brown, 1965)
Health effects of Health effects of •As sources of social conflict (Anderson & Lawler, 1995)
•In reaction time studies of social perception (Fiske et al.,
SOCIAL STATUS SOCIAL SUPPORT 2007)
•In animal behavior research (Cheney & Seyfarth, 2007)
•Low-ranking animals of many species, from primates to •In wild baboons, social support mitigates the effects of •As social correlates of physical health (Kemeny, 2007)
fish, exhibit a wide range of physiological consequences: low social status (Sapolsky, 2005).
poor HPA regulation, low lymphocyte count, more “bad •Children and rhesus monkeys deprived of social
cholesterol,” hardening of arteries, enlarged adrenal glands, interaction during development die or exhibit severe social
parasites (Sapolsky, 2005)
and physical deficits (Bowlby, 1951; Harlow & Harlow, In most relationships,
•People in poorer neighborhoods have more health
problems, even when factors related to environment (e.g. 1962) status and support are
pollution), behavior (e.g. smoking), and access to medical •Skin wounds in hamsters housed with a sibling healed
care are held constant more quickly than those housed alone (Detillion, Craft, negatively related . . .
•Among British civil servants, significant differences in Glasper, Prendergast, & DeVries, 2004)
mortality have been found between every employment •Oxytocin and opioids are released in response to social +
grade, despite similar environment and equal access to contact, and reduce behavioral and physiological stress
health care (Marmot, Shipley, & Rose, 1984). responding. (Taylor, 2007)
•Canadian stroke victims showed 9% decrease in mortality •People with more social ties have fewer infections, less
for every $10,000 increase in income
•Academy Award winners live 4 years longer than non- arthritis pain, faster recovery (Taylor, 2007) Status
winners (Redelmeier & Singh, 2001). •Married people enjoy better health than unmarried people difference
(Kiecolt-Glaser & Newton, 2001)

The social control model:

0
0 +
Support
exchanged

SOCIAL STATUS SOCIAL SUPPORT . . . but human-pet

relationships are often
characterized by high levels
of BOTH status and support.

PHYSIOLOGICAL HEALTH
STRESSORS STRESS PROBLEMS
RESPONDING
The Pet Effect
Stressors can be threats to either •SNS stimulation •Hypertension •Watching fish in an aquarium lowers blood pressure (Katcher,
physical OR social •HPA activation •Arteriosclerosis Friedmann, Beck, & Lynch, 1983)
self-preservation. •Increased BP & HR •Colitis, ulcers •Presence of pet reduces cardiovascular reactivity to acute
•Elevated blood glucose •Diabetes stressors compared to presence of friend (Allen, 2003)
•Suspension of growth, healing, •Osteoporosis •Pet owners have lower resting HR and BP than non-owners,
The stress system is the most likely reproductive & digestive processes •Neurological damage less reactivity, and faster return to baseline after stressful task.
mediator of the link between social •Impotence or amenorrhea (Allen, 2003)
factors and physical health. •Immune suppression •Decreased mortality from cardiac disease (Friedmann,
Thomas, & Eddy, 2000)
•Fewer doctor visits (Siegel, 1990)
Status and support influence physical health by increasing •Therapeutic effect on high blood pressure (Allen, 2003)
control over the social and physical environment, thereby •Fewer physical symptoms and doctor visits after adopting a
pet (Serpell,(1990)
decreasing the incidence or severity of stressors, reducing •People are more likely to acquire pets after a stressful or
physiological stress responding, and limiting the effects of traumatic event (Serpell & Jackson, 1994)
•AIDS patients with pets report lower frequency of depressive
illness (Beck, 2008). symptoms than those without pets (Siegel et al., 1999)

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