The role of pets in child development

Behavioural interactions with pets are generally similar to the developmental changes in interaction patterns that children have with familiar people, including their parents, siblings, and peers.

Examining children’s attitudes toward their pets reveals that many of them credit a range of social attributes to pets.

Some of these attributes – especially love, affection, companionship, and intimacy – are also used in the children’s description of their relationships with other people, but other attributes – for example, ownership and entertainment – are uniquely credited to their pets.

Of course, children differ in their attitudes and relationships towards their pets and some of these differences can be related to factors such as family size, presence or absence of younger siblings, and family income.

The long-term consequences for children establishing these relationships with their pets have not been studied in detail to date, however, a number of studies have found that at least some children find the presence of a pet to be greatly beneficial.

It has also been suggested that exposure to pets can help with establishing and maintaining relationships with peers.