Thesis Publication: The relationship of vegetarianism with individual and collective well-being

    Here I share with you the fruits of my labour during tha past three years. It's been a challenge at all levels but I am grateful that I could acomplish this dream and contribute to our society with a novel perspective on life in all its shapes. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did while researching about more conscious ways of eating, living, and caring for ourselves and others. The thesis is written in English, but please accept my apologies in case you find minor mistakes since my mother tongue is Slovakian. Also, it has an extensive summary in Spanish, which was one of the requirements of the University of Granada so as to help in better understanding for Spanish readers. I was blessed to earn my PhD degree with Cum Laude, and officially I could label myself as a Dr. in Economy with specialization in Vegan Well-being. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like to comment any aspect on the thesis, or further discuss more conscious ways of life, or for a possible collaboration. You can download the .pdf file here.

Thesis summary (EN):

    Vegetarianism has become an important field of study for its proximity relation with well-being of the society and the environment. Consequently, in this dissertation we hone in on several aspects of interconnectedness of vegetarianism: its relationship with subjective well-being, the role that nature connectedness plays on the previous link, and the influence of environmental commitment on vegetarian adherence in order to foster long-term individual and collective well-being. By collective well-being we refer to a unifying concept for ecological wellness, animal welfare, and prosperity of society and future generations, which is further developed in the literature review. 

    The state of the art of the present thesis is that we examine vegetarianism, differentiating the vegetarian identity (psychological factor) from the vegetarian scale (behavioural pattern) in relation to three dimensions of subjective well-being (life satisfaction, emotional well-being, and subjective vitality) exploring thus the cognitive, hedonic, and eudaimonic aspects of well-being, in a sample of university students in Spain. Also, to our knowledge, it is the first time that nature connectedness has been employed in the literature as a means to better understand the relationship between subjective well-being and vegetarianism, as well as pro-environmental behaviour as a predictor of vegetarian adherence in its both facets. 

    The most important aspect in the well-being research is possibly conveyed in its interconnection with individual and collective aspects where individuals can build and follow a solid model towards achieving higher levels of individual happiness and simultaneously helping in preserving ecological and social well-being. Therefore, in this thesis we investigate the aspect of vegetarianism in relation to subjective well-being, nature connectedness, pro-environmental behaviour, and vegetarian adherence from the perspective of vegetarians in Spain, in order to enrich the current knowledge on vegetarianism and identify more effective tools for environmental public policy. In doing so, we would at the same time support the Sustainable Development Goals designed by the United Nations to deal with the most imperative challenges of our current society within the scope of human well-being, environmental degradation, climate change, world hunger, inequality, peace, and justice.

Resumen de la Tesis (ES): 

    El vegetarianismo hoy en día ha transcendido sus fronteras de una dieta específica hacia una forma de vida más consciente. Esto es debido a su positiva interrelación con el bienestar de la sociedad y del medio ambiente, y por ello constituye un área de estudio importante, ya que activamente participa en la preservación del bienestar global. Nuestro objetivo en la presente investigación es abordar el vegetarianismo desde la perspectiva del bienestar subjetivo, de la conexión con la naturaleza así como estudiar los agentes que fortalezcan la adherencia a las dietas vegetarianas para crear unas sociedades más sostenibles en el tiempo.

    Nuestro enfoque se centra en factores como la conexión con la naturaleza y el comportamiento pro-ambiental, porque ambos exhiben unos vínculos únicos con el bienestar subjetivo y la adherencia vegetariana lo que nos lleva a desarrollar e implementar intervenciones políticas que cultiven estas experiencias en los individuos, en su adopción de unos estilos de vida más sostenibles. La principal innovación de esta tesis a la literatura científica radica en que estudiamos el vegetarianismo, diferenciando la identidad vegetariana (factor psicológico) de la escala vegetariana (comportamiento actual) en relación con las tres dimensiones del bienestar subjetivo (satisfacción con la vida, bienestar emocional y vitalidad subjetiva) explorando así los aspectos cognitivos, hedónicos y eudaimónicos del bienestar, en una muestra de estudiantes universitarios en España. También, según nuestro conocimiento, es la primera vez que se ha empleado en la literatura la conexión con la naturaleza como un medio para comprender mejor la relación entre el bienestar subjetivo y el vegetarianismo, así como el compromiso pro-ambiental como predictor de la adherencia vegetariana.

You can download the .pdf file here.