Kids more likely to confide in a pet than their sibling

ASIDE from budgies, parrots and mynah birds, there are few pets that can answer back.

But that doesn’t stop children talking to them.

In fact, a study shows that youngsters are more likely to confide in animals, such as cats and dogs, than their own brothers and sisters.

Researchers at Cambridge University found youngsters preferred to talk to pets about difficult issues because they felt they ‘would not be judged’.

Children facing tough challenges such as illness, bereavement or divorce said they placed particular importance on their pets. The study found animals could play the part of ‘listener’ even if the children realised they could not be understood.

It also noted that in modern Britain, pets were often present in families where there is no father after a family break-up. Matt Cassels, who conducted the research, said far too little attention has been paid to the significant role of pets in young people’s emotions.

He said: ‘It is really surprising that these children not only turn to their pets for support when faced with adversity, but that they do so even more than they turn to their siblings. This is even though they know their pets don’t actually understand what they are saying.’ Mr Cassels, a postgraduate psychiatry researcher, based his research on a ten-year study of 100 families in the UK. He examined data from a study carried out by the Centre for Family Research at Cambridge University, which tracked children from the age of two. The information on pet ownership was based on when children were aged 12.

The research suggests children were also likely to have a stronger relationship with their pets than their peers. Such relationships, particularly when it was girls with pet dogs, encouraged more social behaviour, such as ‘helping, sharing, and co-operating’.

Mr Cassels added: ‘They may feel their pets are not judging them and si nce pets don’t appear to have their own problems they just listen. Even confiding in a journal can be therapeutic, but pets may be even better since they can be empathetic.’ The study, he said, showed it was ‘valid to talk about child pet relationships in the same way we talk about sibling relationships’.

Mr Cassels, a Canadian studying at Cambridge on a scholarship from the Gates Foundation, said there had been a lack of appreciation of how important animals are to us.