Psychological health among livestock owners, the potential effect of large carnivores
Flykt, Anders ; Frank, Jens and Johansson, Maria LU
(2025)
In Journal of Rural Studies
120.
- Abstract
Sustainable wildlife management should, amongst others, safeguard human health. This study concerns rural residents’ perceived quality of life and the potential effect of large carnivores (LCs) on psychological health outcomes (life satisfaction, anxiety symptoms, and exhaustion). One group of rural residents that appears to be especially vulnerable when the number and range of LCs increase is sheep owners. 279 participants (rural residents without livestock n = 114, livestock owners without sheep n = 103, and sheep owners n = 62) completed a survey on rural living also including established instruments to assess psychological health outcomes. Rural residents without livestock were mainly positive while sheep owners were mainly negative... (More)
Sustainable wildlife management should, amongst others, safeguard human health. This study concerns rural residents’ perceived quality of life and the potential effect of large carnivores (LCs) on psychological health outcomes (life satisfaction, anxiety symptoms, and exhaustion). One group of rural residents that appears to be especially vulnerable when the number and range of LCs increase is sheep owners. 279 participants (rural residents without livestock n = 114, livestock owners without sheep n = 103, and sheep owners n = 62) completed a survey on rural living also including established instruments to assess psychological health outcomes. Rural residents without livestock were mainly positive while sheep owners were mainly negative towards presence of LCs. Sheep owners reported lower life satisfaction, more anxiety symptoms, and more exhaustion symptoms as compared to other livestock owners and rural residents as a group. However elevated stress and anxiety symptoms among sheep owners seem to be an outcome of accumulated stress due not only to the presence of LCs, but also due to problems to reach the break even point economically. The results are discussed in terms of the overall situation for livestock owner.
(Less)
- author
- Flykt, Anders
; Frank, Jens
and Johansson, Maria
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2025-12
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- KEDS, Large carnivores, Livestock, Psychological health, Sheep owners, STICSA, SWLS
- in
- Journal of Rural Studies
- volume
- 120
- article number
- 103863
- publisher
- Elsevier
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:105015195912
- ISSN
- 0743-0167
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103863
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 35908d85-7ec9-4547-9bb4-4e60ca92803d
- date added to LUP
- 2025-10-02 14:06:43
- date last changed
- 2025-10-14 10:17:23
@article{35908d85-7ec9-4547-9bb4-4e60ca92803d,
abstract = {{<p>Sustainable wildlife management should, amongst others, safeguard human health. This study concerns rural residents’ perceived quality of life and the potential effect of large carnivores (LCs) on psychological health outcomes (life satisfaction, anxiety symptoms, and exhaustion). One group of rural residents that appears to be especially vulnerable when the number and range of LCs increase is sheep owners. 279 participants (rural residents without livestock n = 114, livestock owners without sheep n = 103, and sheep owners n = 62) completed a survey on rural living also including established instruments to assess psychological health outcomes. Rural residents without livestock were mainly positive while sheep owners were mainly negative towards presence of LCs. Sheep owners reported lower life satisfaction, more anxiety symptoms, and more exhaustion symptoms as compared to other livestock owners and rural residents as a group. However elevated stress and anxiety symptoms among sheep owners seem to be an outcome of accumulated stress due not only to the presence of LCs, but also due to problems to reach the break even point economically. The results are discussed in terms of the overall situation for livestock owner.</p>}},
author = {{Flykt, Anders and Frank, Jens and Johansson, Maria}},
issn = {{0743-0167}},
keywords = {{KEDS; Large carnivores; Livestock; Psychological health; Sheep owners; STICSA; SWLS}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Elsevier}},
series = {{Journal of Rural Studies}},
title = {{Psychological health among livestock owners, the potential effect of large carnivores}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103863}},
doi = {{10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103863}},
volume = {{120}},
year = {{2025}},
}