A lot of us find joy in keeping pets at home but a study says that love for one’s pet is correlated with a lack of trust in others. — AFP Relaxnews
For a long time, domestic animals were regarded only in terms of their usefulness.
Now, they are family members in their own right.
However, researchers in Germany say that our love for them may not be as pure as it seems.
In a study recently published in the journal BMC Psychiatry, Johanna Lass-Hennemann and colleagues at Saarland University suggest that people with an insecure attachment style form a particularly strong emotional attachment to their pets.
To come to this conclusion, the researchers conducted a survey of 610 dog owners. The majority of the dog owners were women between the ages of 18 and 73.
They were asked to provide certain demographic data and information about their four-legged companions, as well as to fill out several questionnaires assessing their mental health and the type of interpersonal relationships they form.
This led the scientists to observe that people who were more emotionally attached to their dogs showed more signs of mental-health disorders and emotional distress than those who were seemingly less attached to their pets.
The study points out that love for one’s pet is correlated with a lack of trust in others.
“A stronger attachment to one’s dog was also related to a greater fear of being rejected and unloved (anxiety),” write the researchers.
This special relationship could reflect a “compensatory attachment strategy,” by which individuals who have not been able to establish secure interpersonal relationships during childhood may be more likely to turn to four-legged friends than to their fellow humans.
This may be because they find pets less threatening and more reliable.
Numerous scientific studies have shown that pets can function as safe havens and secure bases.
Israeli researchers observed in 2012 that the mere presence of a furry or feathered companion promotes self-confidence, reduces stress and increases performance.
Today, research into the therapeutic benefits of animals, or pet therapy, is expanding to a variety of settings, such as addictions, psychological trauma, eating disorders and dementia.
Although our animal friends are increasingly welcome in health and medical-social establishments, scientific literature agrees on one point: animals cannot solve all our problems.
Pets can be a mediator for learning to bond with others, but the attachment we feel to them, no matter how strong, is not equivalent to that which we might form with a human. – Relaxnews
