Relationship

Question
How do people help hamsters vs how do hamsters help people.

Answer
Hi,
I don't think hamsters as a species benefit very much from being kept as a pet (or as a laboratory animal). Syrian hamsters are rare in the wild because they are considered a pest, so you could say that we conserve the species. But since there are very few wildcoloured Syrian hamsters around, this is not strictly true. More often then not Syrain and dwarf hamsters are kept in cages that are too small, treated like toys or are used as laboratory animals (not that often as rats or mice, but they are).
Humans on the other hand benefit from hamsters. Pets make people happier and even healthier (that's why many nursing homes allow their residents to keep their pets) and hamsters are very popular pets. They are used in the diabetes research (especially Chinese Dwarf hamsters).
You can say that an individual hamsters might be happy living with humans, but the relationship human-hamsters on the species level is more or less one-way, humans benefit from hamsters.
I hope this was of some help to you
Jennifer