Differences in boys' and girls' attachment to pets in early-mid adolescence

Abstract

The precise nature of attachment to pets and differences between girls' and boys' relationships at age 11, 13 and 15 years are investigated in this paper. Data from the 2010 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey in Scotland were used to examine qualities of adolescents' attachments to their pet dogs, cats and small mammals. Survey participants (N=2,472) answered pet ownership questions and completed the 'Short Attachment to Pets Scale' (SAPS). Multivariate analysis revealed main effects of age, sex and pet type, but no interaction effects. There is a pattern of weakening attachment to pets with increasing age, with emotional support qualities of attachment receiving higher ratings from girls, and stronger attachments evident with dogs. These findings enhance understanding of the role played by pets in the broader relational context of adolescents' lives, and help to identify how we might intervene to support adolescents experiencing socioemotional difficulties or life disruptions.

Students’ Care for Dogs, Environmental Attitudes, and Behaviour

“…Gender differences in dog care reflect the results of previous empirical research [37] in which female students were found to be more attached to pets than males. According to some researchers, modern human attachment behaviour, affection, and caregiving are more developed and stronger in women than in men, and maternal characteristics have been extended from babies to family dogs [39].…”

“…Research has shown that children who care for pets themselves feel more connected to them than children that share the responsibility for a pet with other family members [32]. Muldoon, Williams, and Currie [37] studied types of attachment to pets in groups of eleven-, thirteen-, and fifteen-year-olds. They found a pattern of decreasing attachment to pets with age.…”

Children’s Mental State Talk, Empathy, and Attachments to Companion Animals

“…More specifically, past research shows that girls often score higher than boys on emotional language (Bryant, 1992;Maftei & Holman, 2019;Muldoon, Williams, & Lawrence, 2015;Muldoon, Williams, & Currie, 2019;Tardif-Williams & Bosacki, 2017), and engage in more comforting behaviors and adopt sad or understanding expressions when they observe another's discomfort or unease (Connellan, Baron-Cohen, Wheelwright, Batki, & Ahluwalia, 2000;Hoffman, 1977). However, contrary evidence for gender differences has been found in children's perceptions of peer and companion animal friendships.…”

“…Research to date on children's developing social cognitive skills, including Theory of Mind, has focused largely on the interconnections among children's understanding of other people's thoughts and emotions (Hughes, White, & Ensor, 2014). However, past research has largely overlooked how children's engagement with companion animals may influence their theory of mind development (and vice versa), as studies on children's experiences with companion animals are often marginalized in the field of human-animal interaction studies (Muldoon, Williams, & Currie, 2019;Tipper, 2011). For example, theory of mind research may help to explain why companion animals are commonly perceived to have higher cognitive and emotional capacities than other animals (Cassels, et al 2017).…”

“…For example, drawing on studies of peer relationships, studies show that sharing of confidence and emotional support are more vital to female friendships and to making friendships during childhood and adolescence (Fine, 2006). Similarly, with respect to companion animals, studies show that girls and adolescent females may be more likely to report that they share closer relations with companion animals than boys (Cassels et al, 2017;Muldoon et al, 2019). In contrast, other studies have found the opposite: Boys reported closer relationships with companion animals (Kurdek, 2009).…”