Koyasu Hikari, Ogasawara Sakura, Kikusui Takefumi, Murai Toshiya, Nishida Atsushi, Nagasawa Miho
Laboratory of Human-Animal Interaction and Reciprocity, Department of Animal Science and Biotechnology, Azabu University, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan.
Department of Psychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
Front Psychol. 2025 Apr 11;16:1552127. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1552127. eCollection 2025.
The mental health of adolescents is an important issue, since it has a significant impact on their future lives. In this regard, one of the methods for supporting adolescents' mental health is the interaction with companion animals, which is becoming widely recognized. In our previous research, we showed that owning companion animals has positive effects on adolescents' wellbeing and cultural estrangement. However, the effect was notably small. The findings of studies examining companion animals and mental health are inconsistent. These results suggest the need to not only focus on pet ownership, but also how their relationship with companion animals such as attitudes toward animals and attachment. In addition, the impact of cultural estrangement on wellbeing is not always negative, and their relationship may not be a simple correlation. Therefore, this study focused on individuals with high cultural estrangement and aimed to clarify how attitudes toward animals and attachment to their pets differ depending on whether their wellbeing is high or low. Based on the results, the group with high cultural estrangement and high wellbeing exhibited an anthropocentric attitude and a strong interest in nature and ecology. In addition, the group with high cultural estrangement and high wellbeing exhibited close attachment to their pets, which functioned as confidants. This finding highlights the specific role of such animals in supporting adolescents' mental health during this critical developmental stage.
青少年的心理健康是一个重要问题，因为它对他们未来的生活有重大影响。在这方面，支持青少年心理健康的方法之一是与伴侣动物互动，这一点正得到广泛认可。在我们之前的研究中，我们表明拥有伴侣动物对青少年的幸福感和文化疏离感有积极影响。然而，这种影响相当小。研究伴侣动物与心理健康的研究结果并不一致。这些结果表明，不仅需要关注宠物的拥有情况，还需要关注他们与伴侣动物的关系，比如对动物的态度和依恋程度。此外，文化疏离感对幸福感的影响并不总是负面的，它们之间的关系可能不是简单的相关性。因此，本研究聚焦于文化疏离感较高的个体，旨在阐明根据幸福感的高低，他们对动物的态度和对宠物的依恋程度如何不同。根据研究结果，文化疏离感高且幸福感高的群体表现出以人类为中心的态度，以及对自然和生态的浓厚兴趣。此外，文化疏离感高且幸福感高的群体对他们的宠物表现出亲密的依恋，这些宠物起到了知己的作用。这一发现凸显了这类动物在这一关键发育阶段支持青少年心理健康方面的特殊作用。
