Coming back to the eye-opening research we talked about at the beginning of this post, Matt Cassels, a Gates Cambridge Scholar at the Department of Psychiatry, who led the study, said that anyone who has loved a childhood pet knows that we turn to them for companionship and disclosure, just like relationships between people.  

"We wanted to know how strong these relationships are with pets relative to other close family ties. Ultimately this may enable us to understand how animals contribute to healthy child development," Cassels explained.

According to the academic, even though pets may not fully understand or respond verbally, the level of disclosure to pets was no less than to siblings. And the fact that pets cannot understand or talk back may even be a benefit! It means they are completely non-judgmental.

"While previous research has often found that boys report stronger relationships with their pets than girls do, we actually found the opposite. While boys and girls were equally satisfied with their pets, girls reported more disclosure, companionship, and conflict with their pet than did boys, perhaps indicating that girls may interact with their pets in more nuanced ways," Cassels said.

Dr. Nancy Gee, Human-Animal Interaction Research Manager at WALTHAM and a co-author of the study, added that evidence continues to grow, showing that pets have positive benefits on human health and community cohesion.

"The social support that adolescents receive from pets may well support psychological well-being later in life but there is still more to learn about the long term impact of pets on children’s development."