Promoting subjective well-being through pet leisure: motivation, participation, and place attachment in urban spaces

While pet ownership is increasingly recognized as a vital contributor to human well-being, the specific behavioral and psychological mechanisms linking pet-related activities to owner happiness remain underexplored. This study establishes an empirical framework to investigate how pet leisure shapes human subjective well-being (SWB) through the lens of leisure theory and environmental psychology. Specifically, we examine the structural relationships among Pet Leisure Motivation (PLM), Pet Leisure Participation Degree (PLD), and Place Attachment (PA).

Utilizing a robust mixed-methods design, we analyzed a primary dataset of 1719 valid responses via Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Crucially, to rigorously capture the reciprocal and causal dynamics over time, a random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) was employed for longitudinal data analysis, supplemented by qualitative text analysis. The cross-sectional results demonstrate that PLM significantly predicts PLD, which in turn positively associates with PA, with PA serving as a critical mediating mechanism that enhances SWB.

Furthermore, the RI-CLPM successfully untangles the within-person and between-person effects, supporting the temporal precedence and longitudinal predictive associations among the core behavioral variables. These findings provide multi-dimensional empirical evidence for the psychological benefits of pet leisure, offering practical implications for designing supportive urban spaces and community environments to enhance public mental health. All the authors express sincere gratitude for the participants’ help.

Author Zhengkang Bai is currently with the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning at the Texas A&M University College of Architecture, and is very grateful to the COA for its support and assistance with this work. This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation, grant number: 32571813. Guangzhou College of Technology and Business, Guangzhou, China Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha, China Macau University of Science and Technology, Macao, China The authors declare no competing interests.

The authors promise that the research protocol has been reviewed and approved by the Academic Ethics Committee of the Guangzhou College of Technology and Business (Approval number: 20250114; Approval date: 2025.4.19) and conforms to the ethical standards for medical research involving human subjects as set out in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments. All participants signed a written informed consent prior to participating in the study. All the respondents to the questionnaire were familiar with all the experimental procedures and agreed (Parental/guardian consent was obtained for all participants under the age of 18).

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