Is Having a Pet Harmful for Children?

Assertion

''Feeding cats can make schizophrenia! According to a new study, feeding cats at a young age can cause mental illness in the future!''
Really?
Real What?
There is no statistical link between cat feeding and schizophrenia. It has been shown in many different studies that growth with animals is beneficial not only mentally but also for the development of the defense system.

Origin of the Claim

He claims that a "new study" by the American Center for Disease Control (CDC) shows a relationship between early cat feeding and schizophrenia. When the study, which is based on the news that does not comply with the rules of citing no source, is examined, it is stated that the study called as Sabah new research Sabah by Sabah Newspaper is not conducted by CDC; It appears that there was a 2003 article examining two surveys conducted in 1992 and 1997.

Information

The findings of the study used by Sabah Newspaper were refuted by an article published in the Journal of Psychological Medicine in July 2017, and no significant relationship was found between cat feeding and schizophrenia or psychotic symptoms in young people. The lead author of the paper is Dr. Francesca Solmi says:
''The message of this study is clear to the cat owners: Your domestic cats have no danger to your child's mental health.''
he relationships found in some studies may be misleading if not sufficiently variable. This is one of those cases. In the previous studies, the relationship between cat feeding and mental illnesses was examined, but the factors such as socioeconomic status and the presence of excessive individuals in the house, whose relationship with mental illnesses are already known, were not examined. When the findings of previous studies were examined by including these factors, it was found that having cat did not have any relation with psychiatric diseases.

Growing with Pets is Useful!

Studies show that it is beneficial for children to grow up with pets. A meta-analysis which examines the relationship between pets and health, analyzes the results of 17 academic studies selected from 8000 academic papers, and published on the BMC Psychiatry journal shows that having a pet has the following advantages:

Having a pet provides individuals with a sense of ontological safety; in other words, it gives people a sense of balance and continuity and adds meaning to their lives.
-In a study conducted by CDC, children with dog (12%) were less likely to have no dog (21%).
-BMI values ​​of children with dogs are lower than those without.
-Pet owners can control their emotions more easily.
-In people with mental illness, pets have a relaxing and reducing effect.
-Pets ensure that people who are otherwise withdrawn stay in touch with the outside world and strengthen social interactions.
-In pet owners, thoughts about "individuality, eigenvalue, existential meaning" are more positive.