Relationships among loneliness, pet ownership, and attachment were studied in a sample of 148 adult female students, 59 pet owners and 89 nonowners. No significant differences were found on the loneliness reported by pet owners and nonowners. A two by two analysis of variance showed that women living entirely alone were significantly more lonely than those living with pets only, with both other people and pets, and with other people but without pets. No associations were found between loneliness and pet attachment. Also, no significant differences were found in loneliness or pet attachment scores between dog and cat owners; however, women living only with a dog were significantly more attached to the dog than those living with both a dog and other people. Conversely, women living only with a cat were significantly less attached to the cat than those living with both a cat and other people. These findings indicate that having a pet can help to diminish feelings of loneliness, particularly for women living alone, and compensate for the absence of human companionship.
150 boys and 150 girls between the ages of 3 and 13 yr. were individually interviewed using a series of investigator-generated open-ended questions to analyze the children's attitudes toward their pets. It was hypothesized that the cognitive elements would progress from preoperational to concrete operations at seven and to formal operations at 13, that the affective elements would progress from egocentricity to empathy and perspective-taking, and that behavioral elements would progress from dependence on situational cues to caring behavior based on realistically assessed characteristics of pets. Although the data supported the second and third hypotheses, the cognitive elements progressed only from preoperational to concrete operations. There was no evidence that the 13-yr.-olds had entered the formal operations stage. Other data indicated that 90% owned pets but 99.3% wanted pets, a significant indication of children's over-all positive attitude toward pets. Further research was suggested.
75 self-identified heterosexual and 55 self-identified homosexual women between the ages of 19 and 58 yr. completed a 24-item anonymous questionnaire to determine whether men or women were more violently aggressive in the form of attempted or completed rape, physical abuse, or infliction of pain beyond that which was consensual in the practice of sadomasochism in dyadic relationships. z tests for the significance of differences between proportions in analyzing questionnaire data indicated that men committed violent acts against women significantly more often than did women against men, which supports the hypothesis that the frequency of aggressive violence would be significantly higher for heterosexual than in female homosexual dyads. Of 104 incidents of violence, however, 29 acts (28%) were committed by women, which suggests that the nature of the relationship may also be an important variable in dyadic violence. Further research is indicated.
The possibilities for matching pets to owners' personality-types for physical and psycho-social benefits were explored. It was hypothesized that self-identified dog-and cat-lovers would show significant differences on the autonomy, dominance, nuttutance, and aggression scales of the Edwards Personal Preference Test. 223 adults completed an experimenter-designed questionnaire and all of the specific Edwards Schedule A questions. An analysis of variance was applied to the scale scores transformed into standardized T scores for each of the Edwards scales. The Scheffe test showed that male cat-lovers were higher and all pet-lovers were lower in autonomy, that male pet-and dog-lovers were higher and female cat-lovers were lower in dominance, that fema!e pet-lovers were higher and all cat-lovers were lower in nurturance, and that male dog-lovers were higher and female dog-and cat-lovers were lower in aggression. The demonstrated differences in owner personality should facilitate matching pets and people to maximize the physical and psycho-social therapeutic benefits of pet ownership.Domestication of some animals for their utilitarian value probably occurred during the neolithic period, but it is impossible to pinpoint when their economic usefulness for hunting and food-gathering, for sporting and breeding, and for protection and survival was overwhelmed by their value simply as companions or pets. Lorenz ( 1954) suggests that wolf pups probably were the first to cuddle their way into the bosom of a neolithic family, while Hartley and Shames (1959) and Mugford (in press) indicate that the technological advances of the past century are the factors in shifting the value of most U. S. dogs and cats from the utilitarian to the psycho-social benefit, from economic practicality to the abstract value as companion or pet. The basic problem, of course, is in defining ualae.Since 1957, a small number of research projects began to evaluate the adverse and favorable effects on human welfare produced by pet-ownership. Carding (1974) described the severe sanitary and health problems in England produced by the huge numbers of uncontrolled domestic animals, chiefly cats 'Request reprints from A.
Observations in the streets and parks of San Francisco East Bay cities and suburbs suggested that many of the homeless people own and maintain pet animals in spite of circumstances and environmental conditions. Accordingly, 105 homeless adult men and women, half of whom owned pets, were interviewed for this pilot study. Responses indicated that homeless pet-owners were extremely attached to their pets and had owned significantly more pets during childhood and adolescence than nonowners although there were no significant differences in attachment to pets between parents and nonparents or between married and single persons. Providing food and veterinary care for pets, however, was a very significant problem for the majority of the homeless pet-owners. It was clear that many homeless adults did have pets which were important for their mental and physical health and that pet care was associated with unique problems.
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