ENTRE AFETO E FUNÇÃO SOCIAL: O PAPEL DOS PETS NAS FAMÍLIAS MODERNAS

This study aims to analyze the literature on the social role of pets in modern families, seeking to highlight the importance of affection and the social function of these non-human animals in the family context. The methodology used was an integrative literature review, through the collection of scientific publications in the SciELO and CAPES databases, using the descriptors: “Affection” AND “Social Function” AND “Pets” AND “Family”, identifying 22 publications that met the eligibility criteria. The results demonstrated that the relationship between humans and pets has undergone profound changes, bringing many benefits to both, in sociability and family organization. The multi-species family emerged from the bond between humans and pets, based on true affective ties, solidarity, and mutual benefit, being a perfect vision of current social transformations. In this context, the social function of the pet in the family focuses on the benefits that this being brings to the human, involving their physical, emotional, and social health, since it is an important source of socio-emotional support, in addition to providing an improvement in the individual's quality of life, contributing to the reduction of the increasing stress of modern life. It was concluded that the role of the pet in modern families is to profoundly transform the ways of sociability, in representations of affection, and in conceptions of family.