Abstract：
Pet ownership is the most common form of human-animal interaction, and anecdotally, pet ownership can lead to improved physical and mental health for owners. However, scant research is available validating these claims. This study aimed to review the recent peer reviewed literature to better describe the body of knowledge surrounding the relationship between pet ownership and mental health. A literature search was conducted in May 2020 using two databases to identify articles that met inclusion/exclusion criteria. After title review, abstract review, and then full article review, 54 articles were included in the final analysis. Of the 54 studies, 18 were conducted in the general population, 15 were conducted in an older adult population, eight were conducted in children and adolescents, nine focused on people with chronic disease, and four examined a specific unique population. Forty-one of the studies were cross-sectional, 11 were prospective longitudinal cohorts, and two were other study designs. For each of the articles, the impact of pet ownership on the mental health of owners was divided into four categories: positive impact (n = 17), mixed impact (n = 19), no impact (n = 13), and negative impact (n = 5). Among the reviewed articles, there was much variation in population studied and study design, and these differences make direct comparison challenging. However, when focusing on the impact of pet ownership on mental health, the results were variable and not wholly supportive of the benefit of pets on mental health. Future research should use more consistent methods across broader populations and the development of a pet-ownership survey module for use in broad, population surveys would afford a better description of the true relationship of pet ownership and mental health.
摘要：
宠物所有权是人与动物互动的最常见形式，轶事，拥有宠物可以改善主人的身心健康。然而,很少有研究可以验证这些说法。这项研究旨在回顾最近的同行评审文献，以更好地描述围绕宠物所有权与心理健康之间关系的知识体系。2020年5月，使用两个数据库进行了文献检索，以确定符合纳入/排除标准的文章。标题审查后，摘要综述,然后全文回顾，最终分析包括54篇文章。在54项研究中，在一般人群中进行了18次，15个是在老年人口进行的，八是在儿童和青少年中进行的，九个专注于慢性病患者，四个人检查了一个特定的独特群体。41项研究是横断面的，11个是前瞻性纵向队列，还有两个是其他研究设计。对于每一篇文章，宠物饲养对主人心理健康的影响分为四类:积极影响(n=17),混合影响(n=19)，无影响(n=13)，和负面影响(n=5)。在审查的文章中，研究人群和研究设计有很大差异，这些差异使直接比较具有挑战性。然而,当关注宠物饲养对心理健康的影响时，结果是可变的，并不完全支持宠物对心理健康的益处。未来的研究应该在更广泛的人群中使用更一致的方法，并开发宠物所有权调查模块，人口调查将更好地描述宠物饲养和心理健康的真实关系。
