Department of Psychology, Saarland University, Building A1 3, 66123, Saarbrucken, Germany.
Leibniz Institute for Resilience Research, Wallstrasse 7, 55122, Mainz, Germany.
BMC Psychiatry. 2022 Sep 3;22(1):586. doi: 10.1186/s12888-022-04199-1.
Several studies have investigated the relationship between emotional attachment to pets and mental health with the majority of studies finding a negative relationship between emotional attachment to pets and mental health. Interestingly, attachment to pets differs from attachment to humans with studies showing that humans with an insecure attachment style form a particularly strong emotional attachment to their companion animals. Human attachment style is also related to mental health with secure attachment being associated with superior mental health. Building on those findings, the current study aimed at exploring the role of attachment to humans in the relationship between emotional attachment to pets and mental health.
In this cross-sectional online survey (N = 610) we assessed the strength of emotional attachment to pets and attachment to humans. We further collected pet specific data as well as mental health burden in a sample of German dog owners (M=33.12; 92.79% women). We used a mediation model estimating the indirect link between emotional attachment to pets and mental health burden via human attachment and the direct link between emotional attachment to pets and mental health burden simultaneously.
We found that attachment to humans fully mediated the positive association between emotional attachment to pets and mental health burden. A stronger emotional attachment to one's dog was associated with lower comfort with depending on or trusting in others, whereby lower comfort with depending on or trusting in others was related to higher mental health burden. Moreover, a stronger attachment to one's dog was also related to a greater fear of being rejected and unloved (Anxiety), which was, in turn, associated with a higher mental health burden.
Our findings suggest that the positive link between emotional attachment to pets and mental health burden is fully accounted for by its shared variance with insecure attachment to humans in a sample mostly comprising self-identified women. Future studies need to examine whether strong emotional bonds with pets may evolve as a compensatory strategy to buffer difficult childhood bonding experiences.
多项研究调查了宠物情感依恋与心理健康之间的关系，大多数研究发现宠物情感依恋与心理健康呈负相关。有趣的是，宠物依恋不同于人类依恋，研究表明依恋风格不安全的人会对他们的伴侣动物形成特别强烈的情感依恋。人类的依恋风格也与心理健康有关，安全的依恋与更优越的心理健康有关。基于这些发现，本研究旨在探讨人类依恋在宠物情感依恋与心理健康之间的关系中的作用。
在这项横断面在线调查（N=610）中，我们评估了对宠物的情感依恋和对人类的依恋的强度。我们进一步收集了宠物特定数据以及德国狗主人样本中的心理健康负担（M=33.12；92.79%为女性）。我们使用中介模型同时估计了宠物情感依恋和心理健康负担之间通过人类依恋的间接联系，以及宠物情感依恋和心理健康负担之间的直接联系。
我们发现，人类依恋完全中介了宠物情感依恋与心理健康负担之间的正相关关系。对自己的狗的情感依恋越强，对依赖或信任他人的舒适度越低，而对依赖或信任他人的舒适度越低，与心理健康负担越高有关。此外，对自己的狗的依恋越强，也与对被拒绝和不被爱的恐惧（焦虑）有关，而这种恐惧与心理健康负担较高有关。
我们的研究结果表明，在一个主要由自我认同为女性的样本中，宠物情感依恋与心理健康负担之间的正相关关系完全可以由其与人类不安全依恋的共同方差来解释。未来的研究需要研究宠物强烈的情感纽带是否可能演变成一种补偿策略，以缓冲困难的童年依恋经历。
