'Crazy cat ladies' really DO exist! Feline owners are more anxious and lonely than people who own dogs, study confirms

From Eleanor Abernathy in The Simpsons to Angela Martin in The US Office, popular culture loves to present 'crazy cat ladies' as neurotic loners.

While the archetype is sometimes described as a myth, a new study suggests there may actually be some truth to it. 

Researchers in Australia have found that cat owners – both female and male – tend to be more neurotic than dog owners.  

It's not clear whether owning a cat makes people neurotic, or if neurotic people are more prone to buying a feline. 

Meanwhile, dog owners are likely to be more resilient, meaning they're better at coping and adapting to difficult situations, the study found. 

The research was conducted by Jessica Oliva and Leah Michelle Baines, two psychologists from James Cook University in Queensland, Australia. 

Although they didn't specifically investigate the 'crazy cat lady' phenomenon, their findings provide support for its existence. 

'Cat ownership positively predicted neuroticism,' they report in their paper, published in the journal Anthrozoos. 

'The type of people that enjoy owning dogs are also the type of people that can "bounce back" from stressful situations more easily. 

'Conversely, the type of people that like to own cats may be more susceptible to the negative impacts of stress.' 

For the study, the researchers surveyed and interviewed 321 Australian adults who were dog or cat owners or neither. 

Participants who owned both species of pet were forced to self-select into 'dog owner' or 'cat owner' categories based on the animal they were most close to or spent most time with (60 per cent chose dogs).  

All the participants had their personality traits measured, including extroversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and resilience. 

The results revealed that dog owners demonstrated higher levels of resilience while cat owners demonstrated higher levels of neuroticism, after controlling for age and gender. 

'In contrast to our expectations, no other personality differences were found between pet owners,' the duo report. 

Interestingly, cat-owning women also scored higher for neuroticism than cat-owning males – providing support for the 'crazy cat lady' archetype. 

However, the link between owning a cat and having a neurotic personality is not unique to females, just stronger. 

So the findings suggest 'crazy cat gentleman' is also a phenomenon. 

Although the reason for the findings is not entirely clear, more introverted or neurotic people may be genetically inclined to get cats, while more resilient people get dogs. 

'There is evidence to support the idea that genes guide ownership of a particular species,' said Dr Oliva. 

Alternatively, the experience of having a cat may cause people to become more neurotic compared with having a dog. 

For example, because dogs love walkies, owning a canine may increase the likelihood of getting out the house, leading to more social interactions and less neuroticism. 

In contrast, felines don't need this sort of care, meaning cat owners may not benefit from this level of interaction. 

According to Dr Oliva, personality differences have been consistently shown between 'dog people' and 'cat people'.

'Dog ownership has been associated with reduced loneliness in people living alone during periods of prolonged isolation, such as during Covid lockdowns, suggestive of higher levels of resilience in dog owners,' she said.