寵物飼主情感依戀對寵物相關支出影響之研究

Abstract

現今動物伴侶的身分轉變，重要因素來自主人對寵物的情感依戀，因此本研究以臺灣寵物飼主為研究群體，透過了解飼主人口社會背景，以及對寵物情感依戀程度，探討其對寵物相關支出之影響。同時，進一步研究飼主對寵物形成情感依戀的因子（照顧與陪伴、延伸自我、心理擁有權），對寵物相關支出之影響。本研究將總寵物相關支出細分為寵物食品、寵物用品、寵物服務、獸醫服務，透過問卷調查實際支出金額，並根據文獻結果支持情感依戀對寵物相關支出的關係，同時量化飼主情感依戀與購買金額，檢驗情感依戀是否對寵物相關支出具解釋力。研究結果發現，台灣飼主的情感依戀對寵物食品、寵物用品、獸醫服務、總寵物支出有顯著正向影響。而台灣飼主的情感依戀形成來自把寵物視為家人的照顧與陪伴，而非對寵物感知控制下的心理擁有權所形成的情感依戀。本研究結果可用於建議台灣寵物產業研究中，避免錯估心理擁有權對情感依戀的影響效果，以及考慮飼主貓派趨勢下，針對不同寵物陪伴特性，改善過往評估寵物依戀量表之建議。

The transformation in the status of animal companions today is significantly influenced by owners' emotional attachment to their pets. Therefore, this study focuses on pet owners in Taiwan, examining their demographic and social backgrounds and the degree of their emotional attachment to their pets to explore its impact on pet-related expenditures. Additionally, it further investigates the factors contributing to owners' emotional attachment to their pets (care and companionship, extended self, psychological ownership) and their effect on pet-related spending. The study breaks down total pet-related expenditures into pet food, pet supplies, pet services, and veterinary services. Through a questionnaire survey, actual expenditure amounts are collected. Supported by literature, the relationship between emotional attachment and pet-related spending is analyzed, and the emotional attachment and spending amounts are quantified to test whether emotional attachment explains pet-related expenditures.The results reveal that Taiwanese pet owners' emotional attachment significantly positively affects spending on pet food, pet supplies, veterinary services, and total pet expenditures. The emotional attachment of Taiwanese pet owners primarily stems from viewing pets as family members through care and companionship, rather than from psychological ownership derived from perceived control over the pet. The findings can be used to advise the Taiwanese pet industry, suggesting that the impact of psychological ownership on emotional attachment should not be overestimated. It also considers the trend of cat ownership, recommending improvements to past evaluations of pet attachment scales, based on different characteristics of pet companionship.