Contrary to popular belief, having a dog or cat in the house doesn't improve children's mental or physical health, according to a new RAND study. The findings come from the largest study to explore the belief that pets can improve children's health by increasing physical activity and improving young people's empathy skills. Unlike previous smaller studies on the subject, the RAND work used advanced statistical tools to control for multiple factors that may contribute to a child's well-being being different from pet ownership, such as a higher-income family or in-home family. a more prosperous environment.
The study analyzed information from more than 2,200 children in pet households and compared this to approximately 3,000 households without a dog or cat. Researchers found that children from families with pets tended to be in better general health, slightly higher weight and likely to be more physically active compared to children whose families did not have pets. Also, children with pets were more likely to have ADD/ADHD, more likely to be obedient, and less likely to worry parents about their feelings, mood, behavior, and learning ability.
But when the researchers adjusted the findings to account for other variables that could be associated with pets and a child's health, the association between pet ownership and better health disappeared. Overall, researchers considered more than 100 variables when adjusting their model of pet ownership and health, including family income, language skills and housing type.
While many previous studies have linked pet ownership to better emotional and physical health, RAND researchers argue that their analysis has more credibility because it has analyzed a larger portion than previous efforts.
