• DOI:10.2752/089279307X245473
• Corpus ID: 26129053

A Longitudinal Test of the Belief that Companion Animal Ownership Can Help Reduce Loneliness

@article{Gilbey2007ALT,
  title={A Longitudinal Test of the Belief that Companion Animal Ownership Can Help Reduce Loneliness},
  author={Andrew Gilbey and June McNicholas and Glyn M. Collis},
  journal={Anthrozo{\"o}s},
  year={2007},
  volume={20},
  pages={345 - 353},
  url={https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:26129053}
}

• A. Gilbey, J. McNicholas, G. Collis
• Published 1 December 2007
• Psychology
• Anthrozoös

ABSTRACT The widely held belief that companion animal ownership can help to reduce loneliness was tested using a quasi-experimental longitudinal design. Over a six-month period, 59 participants completed the UCLA-Loneliness Scale when they were seeking to acquire a companion animal. Participants' loneliness was measured again six-months after their initial recruitment, by which time 35 of the 59 participants had acquired a new companion animal. There was no evidence that companion animal… 

ABSTRACT The widely held belief that companion animal ownership can help to reduce loneliness was tested using a quasi-experimental longitudinal design. Over a six-month period, 59 participants completed the UCLA-Loneliness Scale when they were seeking to acquire a companion animal. Participants' loneliness was measured again six-months after their initial recruitment, by which time 35 of the 59 participants had acquired a new companion animal. There was no evidence that companion animal acquisition helped to reduce levels of loneliness, irrespective of whether participants already owned a companion animal at the time of seeking to acquire a new companion animal, or the type of companion animal that was acquired. There was no evidence that participants who ultimately acquired a new companion animal differed from participants who did not, suggesting that the findings were not a consequence of a self-selection bias. The perseverance and apparent strength of the belief that companion animal ownership can alleviate loneliness is discussed in relation to the current findings.