Strong bond with dogs related to lower distress among women with past trauma, study finds

A strong bond with pets, especially dogs, could help relieve anxiety and depression in women, especially those who had experienced childhood trauma, according to US research. Researchers said that while previous studies have looked at depression and anxiety among adult pet owners in mid-life and older, the findings have been "mixed".

However, actively engaging with pets has been previously studied to lower anxiety and depression levels in patients with HIV/AIDS and terminal cancer. The researchers, including those at Harvard University, said the positive influence of pets could be linked to levels of engagement and attachment to pets, rather than just owning them. They added that a stronger bond with pets is related with an insecure human attachment style.

In this study, published in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Network Open, the researchers recruited over 200 women, of which close to 73% were survivors of childhood physical or sexual abuse. On average, the women were aged 60 years. The authors used questionnaires to assess the women's pet attachment and psychological tests to gauge anxiety and depression levels.

"Compared with participants with dog attachments, those attached to cats, on average, were more likely to have experienced life-threatening events, and less likely to have experienced childhood abuse," they wrote.

The researchers also found that women with cat attachments scored typically higher on depression and anxiety, and were more likely to show clinical symptoms, compared to women with dog attachments. Overall, however, a stronger attachment to dogs was found to be linked with lower distress levels, along with lower anxiety and depression scores.

"While not directly applicable to clinical practice, our results point to an important aspect of pet attachment as a factor improving the psychological well-being of particularly vulnerable owners, and will therefore also be of value to clinicians," the authors wrote.

The results add to research regarding the complex nature and consequences of human-animal bonds among those who may have developed an insecure human attachment style owing to childhood trauma, they said.