SynthesisFrontiers in psychology2023
Children's bond with companion animals and associations with psychosocial health: A systematic review.
Synthesis in Frontiers in psychology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Childhood exposure to interpersonal and animal-directed violence: adversity profiles and adult suicidality.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- A Conceptual Framework for the Co-Construction of Human-Dog Dyadic Relationship.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Review
- The Well-Being of Companion Animal Caregivers and Their Companion Animals during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Scoping Review.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Article
- Feasibility of using ecological momentary assessment to measure the effects of interactions with pet dogs on psychophysiological reactivity in adolescents with social anxiety.Human-animal interactions · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Companion animals can fulfill children's attachment needs. A secure attachment to humans is positively associated with psychosocial health, therefore, the extent to which this applies to a strong child-companion animal bond is worth examining. Aims: We aimed to gain insight into the current literature regarding the bond between children and companion animals and psychosocial health. Secondary, we also synthesized evidence about the (1) characteristics of children and companion animals and the strength of their bond; (2) the correlations between attachment to humans and the child-companion animal bond; and (3) the instruments used to measure the child-companion animal bond. Method: According to PRISMA guidelines, we searched three major electronic databases (PubMed, EBSCOhost, and Web of Science) in September 2021 and included records with the following criteria: peer reviewed English articles with quantitative and qualitative data on child-companion animal bonds and children's psychosocial health. Reports with participants younger than 18 years of age with a family owned companion animal were included. Two authors performed the screening and determined eligibility according to a predefined coding protocol. Results: The search revealed 1,025 unique records, of which we included 29 studies. Some positive associations were reported between the strength of the child-companion animal bond and children's psychosocial health outcomes like empathy, social support, and quality of life, although some results were contradictory. We found differences in associations between a child's gender, companion animal species and the strength of the child-companion animal bond. A secure attachment style to parents was positively associated with a stronger child-companion animal bond. Most of the instruments currently used, measure the strength of the bond. Discussion: This review suggests that the child-companion animal bond could be beneficial for children's psychosocial health, but some results were inconclusive. Also, not every relationship develops into an attachment. Since a strong bond with animals might not be the same as a secure attachment, we advise to modify human attachment instruments, in order to effectively study children's attachment to companion animals. Lastly, research designs that are able to investigate the causality of the relationship between the child-companion animal bond and psychosocial health are required.
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