No Loss of Support if Attached: Attachment Not Pet Type Predicts Grief, Loss Sharing, and Perceived Support

Jordan, Amity; Vonk, Jennifer

doi:10.1080/08927936.2024.2327175

Anthrozoös

2024

DOI: 10.1080/08927936.2024.2327175

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No Loss of Support if Attached: Attachment Not Pet Type Predicts Grief, Loss Sharing, and Perceived Support

Amity Jordan,

Jennifer Vonk

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2024

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Cited by 3 publications

References 65 publications

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Is companion animal loss cat-astrophic? Responses of domestic cats to the loss of another companion animal

Greene,

Vonk

2024

Applied Animal Behaviour Science

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Is companion animal loss cat-astrophic? Responses of domestic cats to the loss of another companion animal

Greene,

Vonk

2024

Applied Animal Behaviour Science

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Attachment as the Catalyst for the Attribution of Complex Cognition and Emotion to Companion Cats

Vonk,

Bouma

2024

Animals

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Companion cat caregivers ascribe complex emotions and cognitions to their cats, and these attributions are greater with a stronger attachment to their animals. We compared attributions of emotional and cognitive complexity to cats in cat caregivers and non-caregivers. We measured attitudes toward animals, belief in animal minds, caregivers’ strength of attachment, and attachment style with a particular companion cat in 448 university students, of whom 251 had owned a cat. We asked the extent to which respondents thought that cats were capable of expressing primary and secondary emotions and cognitive capabilities. Caregivers significantly differed from non-caregivers only in the attribution of primary emotions. Belief in animal minds predicted the attribution of secondary emotions and cognition. For caregivers only, avoidant attachment style was negatively associated with the attribution of primary emotions, whereas attachment strength was positively associated with the attribution of secondary emotions and cognition. These abilities may have greater discriminatory power as most respondents ascribe primary emotions to cats, perhaps for anthropomorphic reasons. Housing conditions (indoor and outdoor) were not associated with attributions, suggesting that bonds are more important than time spent together within the home in predicting the attribution of emotional and cognitive complexity in cats.

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Adaptation and Validation of the Pet Bereavement Questionnaire (PBQ) for Chinese Population

Yiu,

Cheung,

Wong

2024

Animals

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Despite the increasing prevalence of pet ownership in Chinese societies, standardized tools to assess grief from pet loss remain lacking. Research predominantly focuses on Western populations, creating a gap in understanding pet bereavement in Chinese cultural settings. This study aimed to adapt and validate the Pet Bereavement Questionnaire (PBQ-C) for a Chinese context to create a culturally appropriate assessment tool. A total of 246 participants with companion animal loss experiences were recruited through the university of the research team. They were invited to complete an online survey including the PBQ-C, the Depression subscale of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21), and the Inventory of Complicated Grief (ICG). Both Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis were conducted to examine the psychometric properties of the PBQ-C and the findings supported a three-factor structure—grief, anger, and guilt—aligned with the original PBQ, with three items reassigned to different factors. Despite these adjustments, the PBQ-C demonstrated strong internal consistency, reflecting the reliability of the questionnaire in measuring the same construct across its items; split-half reliability, indicating its ability to produce consistent results when divided into two parts; and concurrent validity, showing that the PBQ-C correlates well with other established measures of grief. The validated PBQ-C provides a culturally sensitive tool for assessing pet bereavement in Chinese society that can promote research and counselling support for this under-researched and under-recognized type of loss of human-animal relationships.

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No Loss of Support if Attached: Attachment Not Pet Type Predicts Grief, Loss Sharing, and Perceived Support

Cited by 3 publications

References 65 publications

Is companion animal loss cat-astrophic? Responses of domestic cats to the loss of another companion animal

Is companion animal loss cat-astrophic? Responses of domestic cats to the loss of another companion animal

Attachment as the Catalyst for the Attribution of Complex Cognition and Emotion to Companion Cats

Adaptation and Validation of the Pet Bereavement Questionnaire (PBQ) for Chinese Population

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