Recent studies on Human-animal Interaction (HAI) focus on the direct relationship between pet attachment and well-being either on older adults or children or special populations. The findings of the current paper confirmed that dog owners have significantly higher pet attachment irrespective of gender. Furthermore, inconsistent findings persist in this domain with respect to gender difference, loneliness, and pet ownership. The present research builds up on previous literature by studying the effect of gender and dog ownership on psychological wellbeing, loneliness, resilience, emotional regulation, and pet attachment of young adults. The total sample of this cross-sectional study is 92 aged between 18-29 years (Mean age = 25.62; SD = 2.76). A 2×2 between subject factorial A OVA for each measure was conducted with further t-tests. Overall, male non-dog owners have scored higher on all measures (except pet attachment) compared to dog owners. The results indicate significant main effect of gender and dog ownership on psychological wellbeing. A significant main effect for dog ownership was obtained for resilience and pet attachment. No interaction or main effect was observed for loneliness and emotional regulation. Thus, this paper adds to the existing literature by integrating the effect of the aforementioned psychosocial constructs in combination to gender and dog ownership which further addresses relevant evidence and methodological gaps.
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