Pet Away the Stress

College students discover the many benefits of pet guardianship.

University students who have dogs, cats or a combination of the two enjoy lower stress levels than students who do not have any pets, says a study from Ohio State University. While furry friends are famous for providing numerous health benefits for the elderly and chronically ill, there has been less focus on the advantages that healthy, younger populations may enjoy with pet guardianship.

Surveying university students as well as adults in the community, the team found that many participants credited their beloved pets with helping them curb feelings of loneliness and depression. Nearly one in five students (18 percent) and more than one in ten community members (13 percent) stated that their pets helped them cope with difficult times. Nearly a quarter of all respondents stated that having a pet kept them more active, and while this holds truer for dog guardians, cat lovers also reported that their felines kept them moving.

Were any of the results surprising to Staats? “I was most surprised that more than one-fifth of the students and the community persons tended to choose the response, ‘My pet helps keep me active,’ as a reason for keeping a pet,” Staats says. “This was probably not a reason that would have been given by prehistoric or hunting/gathering humans and represents an emergent aspect of the flexible human-animal bond.”

Arizona-based veterinarian Kristen L. Nelson, D.V.M., is a speaker, consultant and author of a forthcoming book on the human-animal bond, a collection of stories culled from her twenty-year career in the field. The Ohio State findings, she says, are typical of her own experiences and of previous work. “The findings of this study are consistent with my own observations,” Nelson tells demo dirt. “Pets provide opportunity for socialization. They are great ice breakers for college students who are trying to establish a new network of friends.”

Staats points out that because of their youth, college students may face specific challenges to handling stress well. “Stress is part of being alive,” she explains. “College students do not have as much experience in dealing with stress as older persons.”

Individuals who are even younger than the sample in this study benefit from having pets as well, Nelson maintains. “Children exposed to fluffy pets during their first year of life have a much lower chance of developing allergies or asthma than children who live without pets. After this critical window, kids with and without pets have the same risk of developing allergies,” she explains. “Children of any age learn about unconditional love and loyalty from their pets. They also have better self-esteem.”

“I think being taught care and respect for pets is an important virtue that I would want children to acquire,” Staats adds.

There are dog people, cat people, bird lovers, and more; do some animals offer better stress relief than others, or does it just come down to what each individual prefers? “I believe the best pet to relieve stress is one of individual preference,” Nelson says. “In practice, I often witness children share wonderful relationships with unusual pets such as iguanas, chinchillas and rats.”

“It is common for animals to have preferences as well,” Nelson notes. “Our cat Tigre chose my husband at the shelter before we chose him. Several years later, he is still bonded to my husband more than me.”

How one acquires a pet may also affect the human-animal bond. While some people choose to purchase animals, there is a great need for many homeless pets to get adopted. The relationships that form between rescue animals and their guardians are particularly special, Nelson says. “In my experience, people develop a relationship with the animals they rescue faster than the ones they purchase,” she explains. “People are more patient with rescued animals.  They often ascribe bad behavior as the result of prior abuse. When a pet is purchased, there are higher expectations right from the start.”

As a veterinarian, Nelson has witnessed the positive effects of having a loving pet in many of her patients’ guardians. When life presents the most challenging and painful situations, she says, animal friends have provided comfort and hope to many people.

“Divorce and death of a spouse are two situations where I see a huge impact from animals. For children of divorce, the pet provides unconditional love,” she says. “For stability, I recommend sending the pet with the child as they move between parents. Several people have told me that their pet was the only thing that helped them deal with the death of their beloved spouse.”   

Editor’s note: Having a pet can be rewarding and special, but it is not right for everyone. It is never a good idea to surprise a loved one with a pet, or to take one in if you have doubts that you have the time, resources or desire for one. There is a heartbreakingly high number of homeless pets and thousands of loving, healthy cats and dogs are euthanized daily. If you are ready to have a pet companion, please go to www.petfinder.org to make adoption your option. Please don’t overlook adult cats and dogs to adopt. These special animals have been abandoned, usually by people who raised them since they were little, and now need loving homes where they can begin living new, happy lives.