Date of Publication :29th March 2021
Abstract: The study has been designed to examine the sex and age related difference in the attachment style towards the pet dogs. For this purpose, 20 dog-owners (10 men& 10 women) between the age group of 18-48 were selected. CENSHARE pet attachment survey (27 statements) and a self designed questionnaire (5 statements) based on the external factors were administered for the assessment of Proximity Maintenance and Safe Haven components (based on Bowlby’s attachment theory. The data was divided into age brackets of 18-28 and 28-48 to determine the differences in attachment between the two age groups. The Mean and standard deviation were calculated for men and women dog owners for both the components, and Cohen’s d was calculated for the comparison. It was hypothesized that there would be a statistical difference in the attachment style of men and women towards their pet dog and, age would play an important role in the differences in the attachment style. Results revealed that women scored higher than men on overall attachment and the two components separately. For the two age brackets, women scored higher in both the components except men showed a higher score in the Proximity Maintenance component.
Reference :
-
- Archer, J. (1997). Why do people love their pets? Evolution and Human Behavior,18(4), 237- 259. doi:10.1016/s0162-3095(99)80001-4
- Becker, K. (2017). How Attachment Theory Applies to Pets. Retrieved May 16, 2019, from https://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/a rchive/2012/10/17/pet-attachment-theory.aspx
- Coren, S. (2010). Personality Differences Between Dog and Cat Owners. Retrieved May 23, 2019, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/caninecorner/201002/personality-differences-betweendog-and-cat-owners
- Dotson, M., Hyatt, E. (2008). Understanding doghuman companionship. Journal of Business Research,61, 457-466. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2007.07.019.
- David, A. C. (2007). Companion Animal Bonding Scale, CABS. Purdue University Press, 4-
- doi: https://studylib.net/doc/8689210/companionanimal-bonding-scale--cabs
- Gosling, S. D., Sandy, C. J., & Potter, J. (2010). Personalities of Self-Identified ―Dog People‖ and ―Cat People‖. Anthrozoös,23(3), 213-222. doi:10.2752/175303710x12750451258850
- Lee, J. J. (2013, May 14). Dog and Human Genomes Evolved Together. Retrieved May 23, 2019, from https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/13 /130514-dogs-domestication-humans-genomescience/
- Smolkovic, I., Fajfar, M., &Mlinaric, V. (2012). Attachment to pets and interpersonal relationships: Can a four-legged friend replace a two-legged one? Journal of European Psychology Students, 3, 15. doi:10.5334/jeps.ao
- Zilcha-Mano, S., Mikulincer, M., & Shaver, P. R. (2011). An attachment perspective on human–pet relationships: Conceptualization and assessment of pet attachment orientations. Journal of Research in Personality, 45(4), 345-357. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2011.04.00