Lawrence, Alistair

Muldoon, Janine

Williams, Joanne

English

Edinburgh Research Explorer

     Edinburgh Research Explorer                                      Children and their pets: Exploring the relationships betweenownership, attitudes, attachment and empathyCitation for published version:Williams, J, Lawrence, A & Muldoon, J 2010, 'Children and their pets: Exploring the relationships betweenownership, attitudes, attachment and empathy' Education and Health, vol 28, no. 1, pp. 12-15.Link:Link to publication record in Edinburgh Research ExplorerDocument Version:Publisher final version (usually the publisher pdf)Published In:Education and HealthPublisher Rights Statement:Williams,JM Muldoon,J Lawrence,A 2010. Children and their pets: Exploring the relationships betweenownership, attitudes, attachment and empathy,. Education and Health 28(3),12-15.General rightsCopyright for the publications made accessible via the Edinburgh Research Explorer is retained by the author(s)and / or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing these publications that users recognise andabide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.Take down policyThe University of Edinburgh has made every reasonable effort to ensure that Edinburgh Research Explorercontent complies with UK legislation. If you believe that the public display of this file breaches copyright pleasecontact openaccess@ed.ac.uk providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately andinvestigate your claim.Download date: 20. Feb. 2015Vol.28 No. 1, 201012 Education and HealthAnimals play important roles inchildren's lives.  Many children in theUK, and internationally, grow-up inhouseholds with companion animals. Themost common family pets in the UK aredogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, caged birdsand fish. Kidd and Kidd (1985) found that99.3% of 3 to 13 year-olds reported that theywanted a pet and 57% had a preference fordogs over other species. Children oftenconsider pets to be members of their family(Morrow, 1998). Pet ownership confers a range ofpotential benefits for children'sdevelopment (Melson, 2001). In a largereview (Muldoon, Williams, Lawrence,Lakestani & Currie, 2009), research onchildren and animals was synthesised intothree over-arching themes.  The first themeconcerns children's understanding ofanimals. Rooted in theories of cognitivedevelopment this work revealsdevelopmental changes in children's naiveunderstanding of biology (e.g. Siegal, 2008;Siegal & Peterson, 1999) and the importanceof direct experience, including pet care, forlearning about biology (e.g., Inagaki &Hatano, 2002; Williams & Smith, 2006).  Research on children's attitudes towardsanimals forms a second major theme. Thisresearch explores individual differences inattitudes towards pets, the factors that leadto positive attitudes and also therelationship between attitudes andbehaviour towards animals (a key concernfor animal welfare). Much of this literaturehas focused on adults includingretrospective accounts of their childhoodexperience of companion animals (e.g.,Serpell, 2004). Studies report marked genderdifferences in attitudes towards animalswith women tending to be more favourablein their attitudes than men (e.g., Kellert &Berry, 1987; Bjerke, Odegardstuen &Kaltenborn, 1998). This research has alsorevealed predictable changes in attitudeswith age during childhood (e.g. Pagani,Robustelli & Ascione, 2007). Moreover,children who grow up in households withpets have been found to have morefavourable attitudes to animals as adults(e.g. Serpell, 2004). This in turn couldenhance positive interactions with animals.A third theme to emerge from theMuldoon et al. (2009) review is research thatfocuses on the emotional attachmentschildren form to key animals in their livesand the consequences of these forsocioemotional development. Davis andJuhaz (1995) suggest that children perceivethe family pet as providing them withempathic and complementary friendship.Melson, Peet and Sparks (1991) foundattachment to pets to be strongest among 9to 10 year-olds. Furthermore, femalesexpress significantly more attachment topets than males (e.g. Holcomb, Williams &Richards, 1985). This pattern of genderdifferences mirrors that found in attitudestowards animals. The issue of theattachment to animals has implications forthe development of empathy amongDr Joanne Williams is a Lecturer in Psychology and Dr Janine Muldoon is a Research Fellow at the School of Education, University of Edinburgh.Professor Alistair Lawrence is based at the Scottish Agricultural College, Edinburgh. For correspondence please e-mail: Jo.Williams@ed.ac.ukJoanne M. Williams, Janine Muldoon andAlistair LawrenceChildren and their pets: Exploring therelationships between pet ownership, petattitudes, attachment to pets and empathy281C.qxd  04/03/2010  12:39  Page 12Vol.28 No. 1, 2010                                                                                                      Education and Health 13children and for their caring behaviourtowards animals.  The present study has four mainobjectives. Firstly, it will examine agedifferences in attitudes towards andattachment to animals and empathy.Secondly, it will explore gender differencesin these measures. Thirdly, the impact of petownership on attitudes towards andattachment to animals and empathy will beconsidered. Finally, the associationsbetween attitudes towards pets, attachmentsto pets, and empathy will be examined. MethodsSampleChildren from two primary schools and alinked secondary school in a rural area of theUK participated in this research.  The samplecomprised: 57 9 year-olds (mean=10.1 years,29 girls and 29 boys); 38 11 year-olds(mean=12.2 years, 21 girls and 17 boys); and26 13 year-olds (mean=13.11 years, 12 girlsand 14 boys).  Questionnaire and ProcedureThe questionnaire was composed of aseries of five questions on pet ownershipfollowed by standardised measures:  1. Pet Attitude Scale (Templer et al., 1981; Munsellet al., 2004; Daly & Morton, 2006). This 8-itemversion measures attitudes towards pets(Cronbach's alpha= 0.76).2. Attachment to Pets Scale (e.g. Staats et al.,1996; Kafer et al., 1992) comprises 12 items togauge people's relationships with their petanimals (Cronbach's alpha = 0.80). 3. The Lexington Attachment to Pets Scale(Johnson, Garrity & Stallones, 1992) an 11-itemsub-scale for 'general attachment' (Cronbach'salpha = 0.90). 4. Affective Empathy (Enz et al., 2008) 10-itemscale assesses general affective empathy (notspecifically towards animals) among school-agedchildren (Cronbach's alpha = 0.86).Children were asked to complete thequestionnaire in the classroom during classtime. A researcher was present to answerany questions relating to the procedure andto clarify the meaning of any of the items thechildren were unsure of. The questionnairetook approximately 15 minutes for childrento complete.ResultsPet Ownership: 79% children had a pet intheir home. However, of these children 35%did not consider the pet(s) to belong to thempersonally. By contrast, 22% of children whodid not have a pet in their own homereported that they did feel they had a pet oftheir own (e.g. at grandparents’ home,separated parents’ home or neighbourhoodpet).Age Differences: A series of ANOVAswere conducted to test for age differences ineach variable.  No age differences werefound in children's attitudes to animals (9years mean=4.38; 11 years mean=4.25; 13year mean=4.28), Pet Attachment Scale (9years mean=4.14; 11 years mean=4.07; 13year mean=4.03), Lexington AttachmentScale (9 years mean=4.34; 11 yearsmean=4.16; 13 year mean=4.09), or AffectiveEmpathy Scale (9 years mean=3.94; 11 yearsmean=3.65; 13 year mean=3.66).Gender Differences: t-tests revealed nogender differences in children's attitudes toanimals (girl mean=4.39; boy mean=4.24),Pet Attachment Scale (girl mean=4.18; boymean=4.01), or Lexington Pet AttachmentScale (girl mean=4.33; boy mean=4.13).However, girls scored statistically higher onaffective empathy (girl mean=4.03; boymean=3.53, t (118)=3.85, p<.01).Impact of Pets: t-tests showed nodifferences between children who had a petin their home and those who did not on thefour measures. However, children who feltthey had a pet of their own tended to havemore positive attitudes towards pets (havepet mean=4.43; do not have pet mean=4.24,t(115)=1.92, p=0.058).  281C.qxd  04/03/2010  12:39  Page 13Vol.28 No. 1, 201014 Education and HealthRelations between variables: There werestrongly significant correlations betweenattitudes towards pets and attachment topets. There were also weaker but significantcorrelations between these measures andaffective empathy. Attitudes to pets waspositively correlated with the PetAttachment Scale (r=0.75, p<.01), LexingtonAttachment Scale  (r=0.76, p<.01) andaffective empathy (r=0.29, p<.01).  The PetAttachment Scale was also correlated withthe Lexington Attachment Scale (r=0.86,p<.01) and affective empathy (r=0.3, p<.01).Finally, The Lexington Attachment Scalewas correlated with affective empathy(r=0.3, p<.01). Discussion The majority of children participating inthis study reported living with at least onepet in their home.  This supports theobservation that pet ownership in the UK isthe rule rather than the exception.  Thisfinding is simple yet potentially important.Very little research has focused on thispervading childhood experience; there isclearly an important gap in educational andpsychological research on children'sdevelopment. Although there was a trend in the data ofa decrease in positive attitudes towards petswith age, this failed to reach statisticalsignificance. The small sample sizecontributed to this lack of effect. Thepotential decrease in positive attitudes withage was, however, supported by qualitativework also conducted by the authors (seeMuldoon et al., 2009).  This finding suggeststhat educational interventions to improveattitudes to animals might be most fruitful ifthey focus on preadolescents because at thisage children are already receptive topositive messages about animal care andanimal welfare. There was no genderdifference in attitudes towards pets. This isinteresting and unexpected becauseresearch with adults has often revealedrobust gender differences in attitudestowards animals. Future research isrequired to examine the age at which genderdifferences become apparent and the socialand psychological processes that mightcontribute to this gender effect. Animportant finding was that children whofeel they have a pet tend to hold morepositive attitudes towards pets.  Thedirection of effect remains, however,unclear. Children who hold positiveattitudes are more likely to want to have apet. Conversely the experience of petownership may lead to more positiveattitudes to pets. The latter seems quitelikely because simply having a pet in thehome was not linked with more positiveattitudes to pets in this study.There were no developmental or genderdifferences in attachments to pets. The lackof gender effect here is again surprising andhighlights the need for further research witha wider age-range to identify the age atwhich gender differences in attachments topets emerge. All children in the study scoredhighly on attachment to pets indicating theimportant role pets play in children's socialand emotional development. For manychildren having a pet is a source ofemotional support and social interactionand helps them avoid loneliness (c.f.Melson, 2003; Davis & Juhasz, 1995).The results also revealed that affectiveempathy is higher among girls in thissample and positively correlated withattitudes towards and attachments to pets.Pet ownership offers children theopportunity to engage in nurturing andcaring behaviour towards another livingcreature (e.g. feeding, grooming, cleaning,giving and receiving affection). This is likelysupport the development of empathyduring childhood not only towards animalsbut also in relation to other people (e.g.Melson, 2001). This research has the limitation of arelatively small sample size. However, theresults highlight the importance of animalsin children's lives and the need for more281C.qxd  04/03/2010  12:39  Page 14Vol.28 No. 1, 2010                                                                                                      Education and Health 15extensive research on child-animalinteractions.  It is part of a large-scaleprogramme of work to create a scientificevidence base for the development andevaluation of interventions to promote asense of 'duty of care' towards animalsamong children. In conclusion, pet ownership iswidespread but its effects on childdevelopment are under-researched. Thisstudy has revealed the highly positiveattitudes girls and boys aged 9 to 13 yearshave towards pets and has revealed thestrong attachments children form to theirpets. This study has also highlighted theimportance of direct experience of owning apet for children's attitudes towardscompanion animals. Fostering children'spositive relationships with animals isimportant because it can potentially lead toreciprocal benefits for both childdevelopment and animal welfare. AcknowledgementsThis research is funded by the Department forEnvironment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).  Theauthors would also like to thank Dr Nelly Lakistani and DrElpida Pavlidou for their assistance with elements of thisproject. ReferencesEnz, S., Zoll, C., & Watson. (in prep). The empathyquestionnaire.Bjerke, T.,Odegardstuen, T & Kaltenborn, B. P. (1998).Attitudes toward animals among Norwegian adolescents:Species Preferences. Anthrozoös, 11(4): 227-235Daly, B., & Morton, L. L. (2006). An investigation ofhuman-animal interactions and empathy as related to petpreference, ownership, attachment, and attitudes inchildren. Anthrozoös, 19(2), 113-127.Davis, J.H. & Juhasz, A. M. (1995).  The preadolescentpet friendship bond. Anthrozoös, 8, 78-82.Holcomb R., Williams, R.C., & Richards, P.S. (1985). Theelements of attachment: Relationship maintenance andintimacy. Journal of The Delta Society, 2, 28-34.Inagaki, K. & Hatano, G. (2002). Young children's naïvethinking about the biological world. Brighton: PsychologyPress. Johnson, T.P., Garrity, T.F.,  & Stallones, L. (1992).Psychometric evaluation of the Lexington Attachment toPets Scale. Anthrozoös, 5(3), 160-175.Kafer, R., D. Lago, P. Wamboldt, and F. Harrington.(1992). The Pet Relationship Scale: Replication ofpsychometric properties in random samples andassociation with attitudes towards wild animals.Anthrozoos, 5:93-105.Kellert, S.R. & Berry, J .K. 1987. Attitudes, knowledgeand behaviors toward wildlife as affected by gender.Wildlife Society Bulletin, 15(3): 363-371.Kidd, A. H. and R. M. Kidd (1985). Childrens attitudestoward their pets. Psychological Reports, 57(1): 15-31. Melson, G.F. (2001). Why the wild things are: Animals inthe lives of children. Cambridge, Massachusetts: HarvardUniversity Press.Melson, G. F. (2003). Child development and the human-companion animal bond. American Behavioral Scientist,47(1): 31-39.Melson, G.F., Peet, S. & Sparks, C. (1991).  Children'sattachment to their pets: links to socio-emotionaldevelopment.  Children's Environments Quarterly, 8(2),55-65. Morrow, V. (1998). My animals and other family:Children's perspectives on their relationships withcompanion animals. Anthrozoös, 11(4), 218-226.Muldoon, J. Williams, J.M., Lawrence, A., Lakestani, N.,& Currie, C.E.  (2009). Promoting a 'duty of care' towardsanimals among children and young people. Edinburgh:Edinburgh University. Munsell, K.L., Canfield, M., Templer, D.I., Tangan, K., &Arikawa, H. (2004). Modification of the Pet Attitude Scale.Society and Animals, 12(2)137-142.Serpell, J.A. (2004).  Factors influencing human attitudestowards animals and their welfare.  Animal Welfare, 13,145-151.  Siegal, M. (2008). Marvellous minds: The discovery ofwhat children know. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Siegal, M. & Peterson, C.C. (1999). Children'sunderstanding of biology and health. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.Staats, S., Miller, D., Carnot, M. J., Rada, K., & Turnes, J.(1996). The Miller-Rada commitment to pets scale.Anthrozoös, 9, 88-94.Templer, D.I., Salter, C.A., Dickey, S., Baldwin, R., &Veleber, D.M.  (1981). The construction of a pet attitudescale. Psychological Record, 31, 343-348.Williams, J.M. & Smith, L.A. (2006). Social andenvironmental influences on the development ofinheritance concepts during childhood and adolescence.International Journal of Behavioural Development, 30,148-157.281C.qxd  04/03/2010  12:39  Page 15

Attitudes toward animals among Norwegian adolescents: Species Preferences.

Attitudes, knowledge and behaviors toward wildlife as affected by gender.

Child development and the humancompanion animal bond.

Children's attachment to their pets: links to socio-emotional development.

Children's understanding of biology and health. Cambridge:

Childrens attitudes toward their pets.

Factors influencing human attitudes towards animals and their welfare.

Marvellous minds: The discovery of what children know.

My animals and other family: Children's perspectives on their relationships with companion animals.

Promoting a 'duty of care' towards animals among children and young people.

Psychometric evaluation of the Lexington Attachment to Pets Scale.

Social and environmental influences on the development of inheritance concepts during childhood and adolescence.

The construction of a pet attitude scale.

The elements of attachment: Relationship maintenance and intimacy.

The Miller-Rada commitment to pets scale.

The Pet Relationship Scale: Replication of psychometric properties in random samples and association with attitudes towards wild animals.

The preadolescent pet friendship bond.

Why the wild things are: Animals in the lives of children.

Young children's naïve thinking about the biological world.

Children and their pets:Exploring the relationships between ownership, attitudes, attachment and empathy

Children and their pets:Exploring the relationships between ownership, attitudes, attachment and empathy

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