University students with the right attitude benefit from cats on campus

Although I don't think this study is particularly useful or enlightening, I believe that it is worth reporting it so here goes. The scientists decided that most studies about the benefits of companion animals to university students concerned dogs (83%) so they wanted to do some work on cats to see how university students responded. Could they respond positively to the presence of domestic cats on campus? Could cats benefit university students?

Yes, is the answer if they have a sufficient degree of emotionality and the right attitude! 👍✔️💓.

Student benefiting from a ginger tabby cat. Image: Pixabay.

They found in simple terms that the student has to have the right attitude to benefit. In short, if a university student has the following attributes they respond positively to a visitation from a cat on campus at university:

• The student is female.
• The student is open to a dog visitation program.
• The student is a cat owner.

In other words, we are talking about students who already like companion animals, in this case cats and dogs. They like dogs because they are open to a dog visitation program.

In addition, it appears that they decided that females have the right emotionality to respond to the presence of cats on campus.

Patricia Pendry, the co-author of the study report, said:

"Anecdotally, we've always been told that cat people are different from dog people, and that most students are not interested in interacting with cats. Our results revealed that students are interested in interacting with cats and that this interest may be driven by personality traits."

Further:

"Some people came in and made an immediate beeline for cats and others for dogs. I was pleasantly surprised by how many people were interested in interacting with cats, which made me interested in learning more about why they made those choices."

And:

"Our study shows that we may be able to reach a larger audience by offering interventions that include dogs and cats. People who are on the higher end of the emotionality trait may be more likely to participate and benefit from these interactions. We're looking for ways to help more people reduce their stress levels. Adding cats may be another way to reach a broader audience."

Conversely, students who have the following attributes did not respond positively to the presence of cats and campus:

• Those with a cat allergy.
• Those with a cat phobia.
• Those who are dog owners.
• And those who thought that interacting with a cat was risky.

I don't think that tells us much! 😎.