Pet and owner personality and mental wellbeing associate with attachment to cats and dogs

Aada Ståhl; Milla Salonen; Emma Hakanen; Salla Mikkola; Sini Sulkama; Jari Lahti; Hannes Lohi

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.108423

Pet and owner personality and mental wellbeing associate with attachment to cats and dogs

iScience. 2023 Nov 9;26(12):108423. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.108423. eCollection 2023 Dec 15.

Authors

Aada Ståhl^{1

2

3

4}, Milla Salonen^{2

3

4

5}, Emma Hakanen^{2

3

4}, Salla Mikkola^{2

3

4}, Sini Sulkama^{2

3

4}, Jari Lahti¹, Hannes Lohi^{2

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology and Logopedics, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland.
² Department of Veterinary Biosciences, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland.
³ Department of Medical and Clinical Genetics, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland.
⁴ Folkhälsan Research Center, 00290 Helsinki, Finland.
⁵ Department of Biology, University of Turku, 20014 Turku, Finland.

Abstract

Human-pet attachment can impact the life of both parties, and the identification of underlying characteristics related to attachment style can improve human-pet relationships. We employed structural equation modeling (SEM) to explore associations between human, dog, and cat personalities, owner mental well-being, unwanted pet behavior, and attachment styles in a sample of 2,724 Finnish pet owners (92% women) and their 2,545 dogs and 788 cats. Our findings reveal that owner neuroticism and poor mental well-being are linked to anxious pet attachment in both dog and cat owners. Pet characteristics, such as unwanted behavior and lower human sociability are associated with avoidant attachment style. Overall, this study highlights the significance of individual traits in both pets and owners contributing to insecure attachment styles and underscores the potential to enhance the well-being of both pets and their owners through a deeper understanding of these traits.

Keywords: Anthrozoology; Canine behavior; Feline behavior; Psychology.