研究发现，“疯狂的猫女”并不存在

It's the news cat owners have been waiting for: Owning lots of cats does not, in fact, mean you're mad, sad or anxious.

这是养猫人一直在等待的消息:实际上，养很多只猫并不意味着你疯了、悲伤或焦虑。

That's according to researchers at UCLA, who analyzed more than 500 pet owners and found nothing to support the long-held "crazy cat lady" stereotype.

这是加州大学洛杉矶分校的研究人员得出的结论。他们分析了500多名宠物主人，发现没有任何支持长期以来人们对“疯狂的猫女”的刻板印象的证据。

The study, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, observed how people reacted to distress calls from animals and also compared pet ownership with mental health-related or social difficulties.

这项发表在《英国皇家学会开放科学》杂志上的研究观察了人们对动物发出的求救信号的反应，并将养宠物与心理健康或社会问题进行了比较。

Its results will come as a relief to those people who, absurdly, prefer cats to dogs -- and should give those who cling to the popular "cat lady" trope paws for thought.

对于那些荒谬地更喜欢猫而不是狗的人来说，这一研究结果将会时他们松口气。对于那些紧抓流行的“猫女”爪子不放的人来说，研究结果应该会让他们好好想想。

"We found no evidence to support the 'cat lady' stereotype: cat-owners did not differ from others on self-reported symptoms of depression, anxiety or their experiences in close relationships," the study said.

研究称:“我们没有发现支持‘猫女’刻板印象的证据:养猫的人和其他人在自我报告的抑郁、焦虑症状或亲密关系经历方面没有什么不同。”

"Our findings, therefore, do not fit with the notion of cat-owners as more depressed, anxious or alone."

因此，我们的研究结果并不符合养猫人更抑郁、焦虑或更孤独的观念。

The conclusion backs a similar finding by researchers at University College London, who said in 2017 that they found no link between cat ownership and the development of psychotic symptoms.

这一结论支持了伦敦大学学院(University College London)研究人员的一项类似发现。2017年，伦敦大学学院的研究人员表示，他们发现养猫与精神病症状的发展之间没有关联。

The study also found that cat and dog owners are more likely to empathize with an animal's distress calls, with owners getting sadder than non-owners when they heard a cat meow or a dog whimper.

研究还发现，养猫和养狗的人更容易同情动物发出的求救信号，当听到猫叫或狗呜咽时，养猫和养狗的人比不养它们的人更悲伤。

"We found several subtle differences between how adults with and without pets generally react to animal vocalizations," the study said, noting that those with pets react to such sounds more emotionally than those without.

研究称:“我们发现，养宠物和不养宠物的成年人对动物叫声的反应存在一些细微差别。”研究还指出，养宠物的人对动物叫声的反应要比不养宠物的人更情绪化。

Its overarching finding, though, was that people of all pet- and non-pet owning statuses were similarly depressed and anxious -- debunking the "crazy cat lady" stereotype and proving that we're all as miserable as each other.

不过，研究的主要发现是，所有拥有宠物和不拥有宠物的人都有类似的抑郁和焦虑情绪，这打破了“疯狂的猫女”的刻板印象，证明我们都和对方一样痛苦。