Psychometric Properties of the Lexington Attachment to Pets Scale: Mexican Version (LAPS-M)

Abstract

The Lexington Attachment to Pets Scale (LAPS) is perhaps the most widely used instrument to assess human emotional attachments to pets and is suitable for both dog and cat owners. However, this instrument has not been translated into Spanish. Thus, the present study aimed to assess the psychometric properties of the Mexican version of the Lexington Attachment to Pets Scale (LAPS-M), which was translated into Spanish and adapted for dog owners. We analyzed the internal consistency and factor structure in a convenience sample of 152 people; 56.6% were women and 43.4% were men, with a mean age of 32.4 years (SD = 10.9 years), who had, on average, two dogs for a period of 3.8 years. The results indicate that the scale has excellent internal consistency in its complete version, with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.96, and also in its three subscales, with Cronbach's alpha coefficients ranging from 0.83 to 0.94. Factor analysis suggests a unifactorial structure is appropriate. However, the goodness-of-fit indicated by confirmatory factor analysis statistics would likely improve with a larger sample size. When we compared the central tendency measures of the LAPS-M according to the type of relationship with the dog, we found higher scores among people who considered dogs to be family members than among those who considered dogs to be pets. Furthermore, people who reported that the relationship with their dog was burdensome or stressful had lower scores. We conclude that the Mexican version of the LAPS is adequate and that further studies with larger sample sizes will contribute to the evidence regarding its psychometric properties.

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“…For respondents who owned a dog, we asked additional questions related to the dog’s sex, age, size, primary reason for having the dog, dog health, and attachment. One of the most widely used instruments to measure the attachment pet owners have to their dogs is the Lexington Attachment to Pets Scale (LAPS) [58,59]. A series of measures were included to capture a wide array of possible benefits of dog ownership that included support [26], emotional benefits (a subscale of the Human-Animal Bond (HAB) Scale [40], companionship (a subscale of the Human-Animal Bond (HAB) Scale [40], social facilitation, physical benefits, quality of life [41], and sense of community [26].…”

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“…Because questionnaires were distributed in a Spanish facility, it was assumed that some visitors participating in the SWD programme would speak Spanish as their first language, rather than English. Ramirez et al (2014) translated and validated the LAPS questionnaire into Spanish with Mexican amendments. With the assistance of a translator, this was modified into traditional Spanish for all sections of the visitor questionnaire, then validated by a native Spanish speaker at the facility.…”

“…Because questionnaires were distributed in a Spanish facility, it was assumed that some visitors participating in the SWD programme would speak Spanish as their first language, rather than English. Ramirez et al (2014)…”