Abstract:
Despite numerous qualitative and cross-sectional studies investigating how dog-related factors may impact owners\' well-being, empirical studies to test these causal effects are lacking. This prospective cohort study examined the correlation and potential causal effect of 17 dog-related factors with six well-being outcomes (depression, anxiety, loneliness, suicidal ideation, hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being) in dog owners. Over a four-week period, 709 adult dog owners reported their weekly well-being and occurrence of each dog-related factor (e.g. how many times they ran with their dogs). A random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) with significance threshold set at 0.001 was used. Six factors correlated with poorer owner well-being (i.e. aggressive dog behaviour, fearful dog behaviour, poor dog health, failure to provide for the dog, lack of control over the dog, and dog presence). Only \'friendly conversation with others due to the dog\' correlated with better well-being. Purposeful reductions in the frequency of dog behavioural and health-related issues are likely to improve owner well-being, as well as greater consistency in dog care (i.e. provide for the dog) and more engagement in friendly dog-facilitated social interactions. No potential causal effects were significant. Further studies investigating causal relationships are essential to improve people\'s well-being through dog ownership.
摘要:
尽管有许多定性和横断面研究调查了狗相关因素如何影响主人的福祉,缺乏实证研究来检验这些因果效应。这项前瞻性队列研究检查了17个与狗相关的因素与6个健康结果的相关性和潜在因果效应(抑郁,焦虑,孤独,自杀意念,狗主人的享乐幸福和eudaimonic幸福)。在四周的时间里,709个成年狗主人报告了他们每周的健康和每个狗相关因素的发生(例如,他们带着狗跑了多少次)。使用显著性阈值设置为0.001的随机截距交叉滞后面板模型(RI-CLPM)。六个因素与较差的主人幸福感相关(即攻击性狗行为,可怕的狗行为,狗的健康状况不佳,没有提供狗,对狗缺乏控制,和狗的存在)。只有“由于狗而与他人的友好交谈”与更好的幸福感相关。有目的地减少狗行为和健康相关问题的频率可能会改善主人的福祉,以及在狗的护理(即提供狗)和更多的参与友好的狗促进社会互动的一致性。没有显著的潜在因果效应。调查因果关系的进一步研究对于通过养狗来改善人们的福祉至关重要。