A daily diary study on adolescent‐pet play and positive well‐being

Abstract Pet ownership has been shown to support individual well‐being, yet less is known about how frequency and the extent of daily adolescent‐pet play contributes to adolescents' positive well‐being. This study used 30‐day diary reports from 107 US adolescents ( M age = 14.75; 58.9% male), assessing adolescent‐pet play, subjective well‐being, and psychological well‐being on a daily basis. Analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) and multilevel modeling (MLM) were conducted to examine the associations of frequency and the extent of adolescent‐pet play with adolescents' positive well‐being, respectively, controlling for participants' demographic and other relevant information. Results indicated that adolescents who consistently had the opportunity to play with their pets reported greater subjective well‐being. Moreover, adolescents with higher general levels of adolescent‐pet play had higher levels of both subjective and psychological well‐being. Similarly, on days when adolescents had higher‐than‐usual levels of adolescent‐pet play, they also had higher levels of subjective and psychological well‐being on the same day controlling for prior‐day well‐being. These findings highlight the importance of adolescent‐pet play, particularly the extent of daily play, in adolescents' positive well‐being. This study advances the literature by focusing on daily adolescent‐pet play and suggests that pets may serve as a promising social resource positive well‐being during adolescence.