ABSTRACT Although the relationship between pet ownership and health and wellbeing has received considerable attention in popular media, research on the topic shows inconsistent findings. We addressed the methodological weaknesses of previous studies by using data from a national probability survey (the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study; n = 13,347). We describe the demographic characteristics and personality of pet owners in New Zealand, examine whether pet owners cluster together by pet types, and test whether pet ownership and pet type are associated with health and wellbeing measures. The majority of participants (61.6%) reported having a pet, and we identified six clusters of ownership by pet type. Pet owners were more likely than non-owners to be younger, women, European, parents, partnered, employed, living rurally, and living in less deprived areas. Pet owners were less likely than non-owners to be of Asian ethnicity and religious and had lower mean levels of education. We found no evidence of reliable differences between pet owners and non-owners in the personality characteristics of extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, or honesty-humility. However, pet owners scored higher than non-owners in openness and lower in conscientiousness. We found no reliable differences between pet owners and non-owners in selfesteem, life satisfaction, psychological distress, physical health diagnoses, or self-reported health. However, compared with non-owners, pet owners were more likely to report diagnoses of depression and anxiety. Although the relationship between pet ownership and depression diagnoses held across the six clusters of pet ownership, results indicated that the higher rates of anxiety were most commonly associated with cat ownership. Future longitudinal research is needed to establish whether pets decrease owners’ health and wellbeing or rather that people in need of comfort tend to seek pets.

中文翻译：

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新西兰宠物主人的人口特征、个性以及健康和福祉：不仅仅是一块绒毛

摘要 虽然宠物所有权与健康和幸福之间的关系在大众媒体上受到了相当大的关注，但对该主题的研究显示出不一致的发现。我们通过使用来自全国概率调查（新西兰态度和价值观研究；n = 13,347）的数据解决了先前研究的方法论缺陷。我们描述了新西兰宠物主人的人口统计特征和个性，检查宠物主人是否按宠物类型聚集在一起，并测试宠物所有权和宠物类型是否与健康和福祉指标相关。大多数参与者 (61.6%) 报告说有一只宠物，我们按宠物类型确定了六个所有权集群。宠物主人比非主人更有可能更年轻、女性、欧洲人、父母、伴侣、就业、生活在农村、和生活在贫困地区。与非主人相比，宠物主人不太可能是亚洲种族和宗教人士，并且平均受教育程度较低。我们没有发现宠物主人和非主人在外向性、随和、神经质或诚实谦逊的人格特征方面存在可靠差异的证据。然而，宠物主人在开放性方面的得分高于非主人，而在责任心方面得分较低。我们发现宠物主人和非主人在自尊、生活满意度、心理困扰、身体健康诊断或自我报告的健康方面没有可靠的差异。然而，与非主人相比，宠物主人更有可能报告抑郁和焦虑的诊断。尽管养宠物和抑郁症诊断之间的关系在六个养宠物集群中都存在，结果表明，较高的焦虑率最常与养猫有关。未来的纵向研究需要确定宠物是否会降低主人的健康和福祉，或者更确切地说，需要舒适的人倾向于寻找宠物。