Social Cohesion, Mental Well-Being, and the Role of Smart Technology and Pet Ownership Among Social Housing Residents: Cross-Sectional Cohort Study

Background: Smart technology has been shown to have varied effects on social cohesion and mental well-being. There has been very little research on associations between pet ownership and social cohesion and mental well-being. Objective: This study aimed to explore associations between social cohesion and mental well-being and ownership of different forms of smart technology, dogs, and cats in a sample of adult social housing occupants in Cornwall, United Kingdom. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study that collected data on people's living environment, health, and well-being, including the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale and an 8-item social cohesion scale. Participants were social housing residents in Cornwall in the South West of the United Kingdom. We used cross-sectional regression analyses to explore associations between people's ownership of different forms of smart technology and pets, and their reported levels of social cohesion and mental well-being. Results: There were no statistically significant associations between social cohesion and ownership of either smart technology or pets. Unadjusted regressions for mental well-being showed an association with owning a smartphone. However, after adjusting for age, gender, and socioeconomic status, this effect was no longer significant. Those who owned any smart technology (b=1.76, 95% CI 0.06-3.45; P=.04) and those who owned a games console (b=2.39, 95% CI 0.59-4.19, P=.01) had significantly higher levels of mental well-being, after adjusting for age, gender, and socioeconomic status; the effect held after social cohesion was added to the model. Counterintuitively, owning two or more dogs was associated with lower levels of mental well-being (b=-2.12, 95% CI -4.06 to -0.19; P=.03) compared with owning no dogs, after adjusting for age, gender, socioeconomic status, and social cohesion. However, there were no significant differences in mental well-being related to cat ownership. Conclusions: Previous research suggests that the beneficial effects of smart technology are context-dependent, and our results support that. While we did not observe significant effects on social cohesion, owning any smart technology or a games console specifically was associated with well-being benefits. There are limited data on pet ownership and social cohesion or mental well-being: our data suggest there is no strong relationship with social cohesion but owning multiple dogs can have negative effects.