“My pet has passed”: Relations of adult attachment styles and current feelings of grief and trauma after the event

Abstract

This study examined attachment relationships and emotional distress after the passing of a pet. Participants were 73 university students 17-26 years of age who had lost a family pet within the past 5 years. They completed measures of attachment styles toward people and their pet, as well as complicated grief, depression, and trauma. As hypothesized, there were positive relations between attachments with people and pets, and anxiety in pet attachment was positively related to complicated grief, even when attachment with people was controlled. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of attachment style to grief over loss.

Childhood Attachment to Pets: Associations between Pet Attachment, Attitudes to Animals, Compassion, and Humane Behaviour

“…Although we used a diverse sample from across Scotland that included a variety of ethnicities and religions we did not include measures of ethnicity, religion, or cultural background, which have been shown to influence human-animal interactions [85]. Future research might also consider the impact of pet loss and grief as an indicator of pet attachment and the impact it may have on children’s development and mental health, including anxiety and depression [94,95]. …”

Better to Have Loved and Lost? Human Avoidant Attachment Style Towards Dogs Predicts Group Membership as ‘Forever Owner’ or ‘Foster Carer’

“…These inconsistencies might be explained by their sample of mixed pet owners. Brown and Symons [24] also found moderate positive correlations between measures of human attachment and pet (cat and dog) attachment, however, results differed whereby avoidant pet attachment related to both human avoidant and anxious AAS [24]. Although all studies used the Pet Attachment Questionnaire (PAQ) [22] to measure AAS towards pets, different versions of the Experience in Close Relationships Scale (ECR) were employed to measure AAS towards other humans.…”

“…Although all studies used the Pet Attachment Questionnaire (PAQ) [22] to measure AAS towards pets, different versions of the Experience in Close Relationships Scale (ECR) were employed to measure AAS towards other humans. Furthermore, differences in findings may also be due to the retrospective nature of the Brown and Symons [24] study which required participants to complete the PAQ after their pet had passed away, which may have complicated participant's relational perspectives. Nevertheless, it seems owners' AAS does manifest in attachment towards pets, however, there may be differences in how pet anxious and avoidant attachment dimensions are expressed.…”

From mother to Mother Nature: The role of interpersonal attachment in human–nature relations

“…Among the religious, those higher in interpersonal attachment avoidance also tend to be more avoidantly attached to God (i.e., they are less comfortable depending on and being emotionally intimate with God; Beck & McDonald, 2004). Moreover, some research extending attachment theory to human-pet relationships has found that those who are more avoidantly attached tend to have more insecure relationships with their pets (Brown & Symons, 2016;Konok et al, 2015;Zilcha-Mano, Mikulincer, & Shaver, 2011; but see Beck & Madresh, 2008;Smolkovic, Fajfar, & Mlinaric, 2012;Quinn, 2005). Chronic deactivation of the attachment system might not only impair the formation and maintenance of close relationships with other people, but also make it more difficult to form and maintain a hardy connection with other external targets, including the natural world.…”

“…However, despite attempts to achieve interdependence and security from other sources, the nonhuman relationships of those high in attachment anxiety still tend to be characterized by anxiety. Interpersonal attachment anxiety has been found to be significantly associated with being more anxiously attached to one's pet (i.e., worrying excessively about being separated from the pet and needing constant reassurance of the pet's love; Beck & Madresh, 2008;Brown & Symons, 2016;Zilcha-Mano et al, 2011 and, among the religious, being more anxiously attached to God (i.e., worrying about being abandoned or unloved by God, and being jealous of other people's relationship with God; Beck & McDonald, 2004). Furthermore, in the context of separation in parasocial relationships, individuals who are anxiously attached anticipate having a more intense negative reaction to their favourite character no longer being on television compared to those who are securely or avoidantly attached (Cohen, 2004).…”