A Study of Nearly 1,900 Families Found a Troubling Link Between Cats and Kids’ Mental Health, but One Detail Changes the Story

A September 2026 report from the New York Post highlighted research suggesting that one particular pattern of pet ownership was associated with higher mental health problem scores in children. The finding came from a peer-reviewed study published in the World Journal of Pediatrics, which examined families in Spain over several years. Rather than concluding that cats are generally harmful to children, the researchers identified an association involving a specific period of early childhood.

Children whose families reported having a cat when they were 4 to 5 years old, but not at age 1, showed higher scores for certain emotional and behavioral difficulties at ages 7 to 8. The researchers measured symptoms through questionnaires rather than determining whether the children had been clinically diagnosed with mental health conditions. That distinction is important because an association between two things does not establish that one caused the other.

Researchers Followed Families Across Several Years

The analysis included 1,893 families participating in Spain’s INfancia y Medio Ambiente, or INMA, mother-child research project. Researchers used information from four regional groups in Valencia, Sabadell, Asturias and Gipuzkoa to examine the relationship between early pet ownership and later childhood mental health. Initial recruitment for these groups took place between 2003 and 2008.

The researchers wanted to understand whether having an animal during early childhood was associated with emotional and behavioral outcomes several years later. They compared children whose families consistently reported having pets with those whose families reported animals at only one of the two measured ages. This approach helped the researchers examine whether the timing of pet ownership mattered, although it could not capture every change in a family’s circumstances.

The Study Examined More Than Cats and Dogs

Researchers collected information about pets when children were approximately 1 year old and again at ages 4 to 5. The categories included any pet, dogs, cats, birds and a broader group of other animals. The final category included small mammals and rodents, fish, and reptiles or amphibians such as turtles and salamanders.

For each animal category, families were classified according to whether they never reported owning that type of pet, reported it at both measured ages, or reported it at just one of those ages. This allowed researchers to distinguish children who had a cat throughout both measured periods from those whose families reported a cat only during the later period. However, the information did not establish how strongly each child was attached to the animal.

How Researchers Measured Children’s Mental Health

When the children reached ages 7 to 8, their mothers reported behavioral and emotional symptoms using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. The assessment allowed researchers to evaluate different forms of difficulty rather than treating every mental health concern as the same outcome. The resulting scores were indicators of reported symptoms, not confirmed diagnoses.

The researchers grouped the outcomes into internalizing and externalizing problems. Internalizing difficulties include inward-facing symptoms such as anxiety, depressive feelings and emotional distress, while externalizing difficulties include behaviors such as aggression, rule-breaking and hyperactivity-related problems. The statistical models also accounted for several child and family characteristics that could influence the results.

What the Researchers Found About Cats

In the adjusted analysis, having a cat only at ages 4 to 5 was associated with a relative rate ratio of 1.37 for internalizing problems and 1.27 for externalizing problems. These estimates indicated higher rates of questionnaire-scored difficulties in that group compared with the reference group. They did not mean that researchers had established that a particular percentage of children would develop a diagnosed mental health disorder.

The researchers also examined the results using additional statistical tests to account for multiple comparisons. After that testing, the difference between children who had never had a cat and those who had one only at ages 4 to 5 was borderline for internalizing problems, while the externalizing comparison was no longer statistically significant. This qualification makes it inappropriate to interpret the findings as definitive proof that cats worsen children’s mental health.

The Timing of Pet Ownership Appeared to Matter

The strongest cat-related association centered on children whose families reported a cat at ages 4 to 5 but not at age 1. The researchers did not identify the same pattern for children who had a cat only at age 1. In other words, the finding was tied to one particular ownership category rather than to every child who encountered a cat during early childhood.

That timing raises questions about what was happening in families when the animals arrived. A family’s decision to get a pet might reflect changing household circumstances, a child’s needs or practical considerations about caring for an animal. The study could not determine which, if any, of these factors explained the observed association.

Other Animals Were Associated With a Different Outcome

The study also found a potentially favorable association involving children whose families reported other animals at both measured ages. This group had a relative rate ratio of 0.80 for internalizing problems, indicating lower adjusted rates of these reported difficulties than in the comparison group. The estimate for externalizing problems was 0.89, but its confidence interval included the possibility of no difference.

Those results do not establish that owning a rabbit, hamster, fish or reptile protects children from mental health problems. The researchers grouped several different animals together, so the analysis could not determine whether each species had the same relationship with children’s outcomes. Nor could it demonstrate that caring for the animals was responsible for the lower internalizing scores.

Dogs and Birds Did Not Show the Same Association

Dog ownership and bird ownership did not have statistically significant associations with either internalizing or externalizing problems in the study’s adjusted models. That finding differed from the association observed for children whose families reported cats only at ages 4 to 5. However, a lack of statistical significance does not prove that these animals have no effect on children’s well-being.

The study also did not find that dogs, cats and birds consistently improved the mental health outcomes it measured. The more favorable result for other animals involved a specific ownership pattern and primarily concerned internalizing difficulties. These distinctions are important because the evidence does not support a simple ranking in which every pet species is either beneficial or harmful.

Researchers Considered Several Possible Explanations

The authors discussed whether differences in the way families interact with cats and dogs might help explain the results. Cats may require different kinds of daily involvement than dogs, which could affect the nature of a child’s interaction with the animal. However, the study did not directly measure these interactions well enough to determine whether they explained the findings.

Another possibility raised by the researchers was that families already dealing with a child’s emotional or behavioral difficulties might be more likely to choose a cat because it can be less demanding to care for than a dog. If that were the case, difficulties that existed before the pet arrived could help explain the later association. The study lacked earlier mental health measurements needed to test this explanation, so it remains a hypothesis rather than an established reason.

The Study Had Important Limitations

Pet ownership did not necessarily mean that a child lived closely with an animal, and the researchers had information about pets actually living in the household only for a subset of families at one follow-up. The study also did not account for pet deaths, which could affect whether an animal was reported at one age but not another. These limitations matter when the timing of ownership is central to the finding.

The researchers also acknowledged that some families dropped out over the course of the project. They used statistical methods intended to reduce potential selection bias, but those adjustments could not resolve every uncertainty in the data. The missing information about pet attachment and the period between the two ownership measurements further limited the conclusions they could draw.

A Larger UK Study Found a More Complicated Picture

Research from another country shows why pet ownership and children’s development cannot easily be reduced to a single positive or negative result. A 2024 study published in BMC Pediatrics, using data from roughly 14,000 children in the UK, examined associations between pet ownership and emotional health, behavior, cognitive development, language and educational outcomes. The authors found little evidence of consistent associations with children’s emotional health or cognitive outcomes after accounting for potential confounding factors.

That study did identify associations between owning certain pets and higher prosocial behavior scores, as well as links with language and nonverbal communication outcomes. It also reported other findings, including lower odds of high scholastic self-esteem among eight-year-olds who owned pets or cats. Because the British research used different measurements and examined a broader range of ages and outcomes, it was not a direct replication of the Spanish study’s specific finding about cats at ages 4 to 5.

Another Study Found Potential Benefits From Cats

Evidence also exists suggesting that cats may be beneficial for some children in particular circumstances. In a small randomized trial published in the Journal of Pediatric Nursing, researchers examined the effects of adopting temperament-screened shelter cats in families of children with autism. The trial included only 11 families, and its exploratory findings linked cat adoption with greater empathy, less separation anxiety and improvements in several reported behavioral difficulties.

The researchers suggested that introducing a carefully selected cat might benefit some children with autism and their families, while calling for larger studies to confirm the results. This was a very different population from the Spanish cohort, and the cats had been screened for temperament before adoption. Nevertheless, the findings illustrate why research involving cats and children can produce different results depending on the circumstances being studied.

The Relationship Between a Child and a Pet May Matter

A systematic review examining 116 studies on pet attachment and human mental health found a mixed body of evidence rather than a uniformly positive relationship. Some studies linked stronger attachment to better mental health, others found associations with worse outcomes, and many reported mixed or statistically insignificant relationships. The review also emphasized that researchers cannot automatically determine which way the relationship runs.

This broader evidence suggests that simply counting the pets in a household may overlook important differences in how children experience them. The animal’s temperament, the child’s individual needs and the family’s ability to provide appropriate care could all be relevant considerations, although they were not established as explanations for the Spanish study’s results. More detailed research is needed to understand when the relationship with a pet is associated with better outcomes and when it is not.

What Parents Should Take Away From the Findings

The Spanish study does not establish that parents should avoid adopting cats or that children who have cats at ages 4 to 5 will develop mental health problems. Its findings came from an observational study, relied on reported symptoms and identified an association within a specific group of families. Other research has produced mixed and sometimes contrasting results.

Families considering a pet should therefore look at whether an animal’s needs fit their household and whether adults can reliably manage its care. Pet ownership should not be treated as a guaranteed way to improve mental health, nor should this single study be used to judge a child’s well-being based on the animal at home. Persistent emotional or behavioral difficulties deserve appropriate attention regardless of whether a family owns a pet.

The Key Question Remains Unanswered

The central finding is narrower than the headline might initially suggest: one pattern of cat ownership in early childhood was associated with higher emotional and behavioral symptom scores several years later. Researchers could not establish that the cats caused those difficulties or identify a definitive explanation for the association. Meanwhile, other animals showed a different relationship with internalizing problems, while dog and bird ownership did not produce significant associations in the same models.

Further research could help clarify whether the result reflects the timing of pet ownership, family circumstances, differences in the child-animal relationship or other factors. Studies that measure children’s mental health before a pet arrives and follow their relationship with the animal over time would be particularly useful. For now, the findings raise an important question for researchers, but they do not justify a blanket warning about cats or a simple rule for families choosing a pet.