Hal Herzog loves animals.
His daughter and her wife are devoted pet parents who often bring their goldendoodle Moose to visit. He knows that pets were good for him growing up and believes the same was true for his children and grandchildren.
But Herzog, an emeritus professor of psychology who studies anthrozoology, also knows there’s very little scientific evidence to prove it.
A recent study of nearly 1,900 households with young children in Spain found that having certain kinds of pets, like dogs and birds, appeared to have no effect on the kid’s mental health. Having other pets, like cats, fish, turtles and hamsters, either at certain ages or consistently throughout early childhood had slight impacts, but Herzog said the differences are "actually trivial and have no clinical significance."
He said the results fall in line with a host of other research that has documented a "shocking" and unintuitive phenomena he’s dubbed "the pet effect paradox."
