Who said that only dogs tend to take on the ways and characteristics of the owners they spend their time with?
Who said that only dogs tend to take on the ways and characteristics of the owners they spend their time with? A new study has shown that too cats can reflect the personality of those who care for them. And this, for better or for worse, also affects their state of health.
But what is the relationship between the owner's character and the cat's behavior and health? To reveal it is a study published on Plos One which has sampled over 3000 cat owners.
The research, conducted by Nottingham Trent University and the University of Lincoln, investigated the relationship between the different personalities of cat owners and the behavior and well-being of their 4-legged friends. The findings suggest that just as a parent's personality can affect a child's, the same mechanism could be triggered between a cat and its owner.
As part of the study, the researchers asked questions about the owners 'character, as well as their cats' behavior, health and lifestyle. The results indicated possible parallels with previous research conducted on parent-child relationships.
Previous studies found that higher parental nervousness scores are generally associated with less positive well-being outcomes for children, while agreeableness, conscientiousness, and open-mindedness are associated with more positive parenting styles and well-being. of the little ones.
The study showed that there could be a potential parallelism to cats as well: the higher the level of neurosis of the owners, the lower the well-being of their furry friends. In essence, it emerged that owners who had scored higher in nervousness, stress, anxiety and irritability were more likely to have cats that exhibited more aggressive, anxious, fearful behaviors or that suffered from stress-related illnesses or were in overweight conditions.
Conversely, research has indicated that if the owner displays positive personality traits, it will also benefit his cat who will be less anxious and aggressive.
So explained Lauren Finka, postdoctoral researcher on animal welfare at Nottingham Trent University's School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Zoology and author of the study:
“Many owners see their pets as family members, forming close social bonds with them. It is therefore very likely that pets can be influenced by the way we interact and manage them, and that both of these factors are in turn influenced by our personality differences. "
Obviously, more research is needed to better investigate the causal nature of this relationship and to understand how the owner's personality can affect the behavior and well-being of cats.
Read also:
- Cat therapy: the psychotherapeutic POWER of cats
- 10 things you thought you knew about cats
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