The effect of pet attachment on social support among young adult cat owners: the chain mediating roles of emotion regulation and empathy

This study aimed to examine the relationship between pet attachment and social support, as well as the chain mediating role of emotion regulation and empathy in a sample of young adult cat owners. A total of 319 participants completed the Lexington Attachment to Pets Scale (LAPS), Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), The Chinese Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI-C) and The Perceived Social Support Scale (PSSS). The results indicated that (1) Pet attachment, reappraisal in emotion regulation, empathy and social support are positively correlated with one another; (2) Pet attachment not only has a direct effect on social support among young adults, but also influences it indirectly through three pathways: the mediating role of reappraisal, the mediating role of empathy, and a chain mediating role involving both reappraisal and empathy. These findings provide a theoretical foundation for the common phenomenon of young adults keeping pet cats, reveal the psychological mechanism by which pet attachment influences social support, extend attachment theory, and enrich research on pet attachment and social support.