The benefits of owning a pet might be overstated, researchers have said after tracking more than 6,000 people for 12 months, the finding contradicting the popular assumption of improved mental health of those having a pet.

In fact, the pet-owners reported slightly worse mental health outcomes compared to those who did not own one, the research team said.

However, among a small group of the participants living alone, pet-owners were found to be less lonely than people having no pets.

"Although the body of research done on the topic has been mixed, we were genuinely surprised to find that pet owners generally experienced slightly higher levels of depression, anxiety, and anhedonia (loss of pleasure) during the COVID-19 pandemic," lead author Christine Parsons from Aarhus University, Denmark, said.

"This runs counter to a prevailing public belief that pets are beneficial for mental health," Parsons said.

For the study, published in the journal Mental Health and Prevention, 6,018 people in the United Kingdom -- 54 per cent with pets and 46 per cent without -- responded to online questionnaires from April 2020 and were contacted at regular intervals for 12 months.

"Pet ownership was not associated with beneficial effects on any of the mental health outcomes at the first assessment or longitudinally," the authors wrote.

"Instead, associations were in the unexpected direction, with owners generally having slightly worse mental health symptoms and loneliness," they wrote.

However, in people living alone specifically, the researchers found that pet owners were less lonely in comparison.

The authors also examined another commonly held belief that dog owners, in particular, benefit from increased physical activity and a more structured daily routine. These might, in turn, lead to improved mental health, it is believed.

The team found that while dog owners really were more likely to engage in daily exercise -- 40 per cent among those owing a dog compared to 35 per cent in those not -- the increased activity did not correlate with better mental health outcomes.

Further, no significant difference was found in the study between dog owners and non-owners with regards to maintaining a daily routine.

The researchers also tested a popular culture caricature -- the 'cat lady', commonly seen to represent a middle-aged, lonely and anxious woman owning many cats and having mental health issues.

While women in the study were clearly more likely to own cats -- 30 per cent compared to 22.7 per cent in men -- they were not more lonely, depressed, anxious or anhedonic than men who owned cats, the researchers said.

"Therefore, we find no evidence supporting the 'cat lady' stereotype, whereby women who own cats are viewed as being more lonely, depressed and anxious," they wrote.

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