How animals contribute to subjective well-being: A comprehensive model of protective and risk factors

Abstract

In this paper, we elaborate and test a comprehensive theoretical model of SWB of animal caregivers. This model includes risk factors such as restrictions in daily life, negative emotions, and financial strain, and protective factors such as a sense of purpose in life, positive emotions, and physical activities. The model was tested in a sample of caregivers of dogs, cats, and horses (N = 631). Higher levels of satisfaction of the need for autonomy, experiencing more positive emotions, and greater fulfillment of social roles through the animal were positively associated with SWB, whereas experiencing more negative emotions, greater financial strain due to the animal, and degree of attachment to the animal were negatively associated with SWB. The proposed model is suitable to explain differences in subjective well-being among animal caregivers and may be valid across different types of animal caregivers.

Keywords:

• Subjective well-being
• animals
• pets
• life satisfaction
• mood

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Sina Kattwinkel for her assistance in the preparation of this manuscript.

Notes

1. Note that social roles were originally assessed with two items. The second item was ‘I can compensate stress (e.g. at work) well by spending time with my animal’. Due to concerns raised about the face validity of this item and the low correlation between the two items (r = 0.30), this item was dropped from the final analyses and social roles were examined using a single-item measure.