Love me, love my dog: Cohabitation, dogs and romantic relationships among college students

Abstract

This research focused on the impact of having one or more dogs on romantic relationships among college-age cohabiting couples. One hundred and eighteen romantic cohabitants, among whom either or both partners had a dog, from three universities completed an anonymous, voluntary 41-item survey. Quantitative data included the bulk of the items analyzed using Version 25 of the IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) program. Qualitative data were generated using three open-ended questions and analyzed using a thematic analysis approach. Over three-fourths (77%) of the respondents reported a positive effect, 17% reported a neutral impact, and 6% reported a negative outcome. The positive effects included “companionship” (97%), “relationship enhancer” (88%), and “like having a child together” (76%). Negative outcomes included jealousy, less time spent together, and stress. Men were significantly more likely to report that their partner was jealous of the dog, while women were significantly more likely to talk to their dogs about problems. Whites, more than racial-ethnic minorities, typically reported a more positive than negative effect of dogs on their romantic relationships. The study emphasizes the positive impact of a dog(s) on the romantic relationship of cohabiting couples and reveals some of the negative impacts of living with one or more dogs on young cohabitating couples’ relationships. The findings provide relatively new insights into the influence of gender and race-ethnicity on dogs and cohabiting couples and suggest areas for further research.