Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-hvd4g Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-11T04:59:43.071Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Childhood Pet Keeping and Humane Attitudes in Young Adulthood

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2023

E S Paul  and
J A Serpell
E S Paul*
Affiliation:
Companion Animal Research Group, Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, UK
J A Serpell
Affiliation:
Companion Animal Research Group, Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, UK
*
† Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A questionnaire survey of 385 UK-based university students was used to investigate whether there was an association between pet keeping in childhood and humane attitudes in young adulthood. Subjects gave detailed, retrospective reports of the pets they had kept during their childhoods, and a variety of attitude scales and open-ended questions were used to measure their current attitudes concerning the welfare of both animals and humans. Higher levels of childhood pet keeping were related to more positive attitudes towards pet animals and greater concerns about the welfare of non-pet animals and humans. Ethical food avoidance practices (eg vegetarianism); membership of animal welfare and environmental organizations were also found to be associated with pet keeping during childhood. Knowledge of the experiences that underlie existing variation in humane attitudes will greatly assist the development of more effective humane education programmes in the future.

Keywords

animal welfarechildhoodempathyhumane attitudespet keepingquestionnaire
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Welfare , Volume 2 , Issue 4 , November 1993 , pp. 321 - 337
Copyright
© 1993 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

1

Present address: Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9JZ, UK

2

Present address: University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA

References

Adams, C J 1990 The Sexual Politics of Meat. Polity Press: CambridgeGoogle Scholar
Ascione, F R 1992 Enhancing children’s attitudes about the humane treatment of animals: generalization to human-directed empathy. Anthrozoös 5: 176–191CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bailey, C M 1988 Exposure of pre-school children to companion animals: impact on role taking skills. Dissertation Abstracts International 48 (8-A): 1976Google Scholar
ten Bensel, R W 1984 Historic perspectives of human values for animals and vulnerable people. In Anderson, R K, Hart, B L and Hart, L A (eds) The Pet Connection pp 2–14. Center to Study Human-Animal Relationships and Environments: MinneapolisGoogle Scholar
Bowd, A D 1984a Development and validation of a scale of attitudes towards the treatment of animals. Educational and Psychological Measurement 44: 513–515CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowd, A D 1984b Fears and understanding of animals in middle childhood. Journal of Genetic Psychology 145: 143–144CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowd, A D 1989 The educational dilemma. In Paterson, D and Palmer, M (eds) The Status of Animals: Ethics, Education and Welfare pp 52–57. CAB International: WallingfordGoogle Scholar
Bryant, B K 1986 The relevance of family and neighbourhood animals to social-emotional development in middle childhood. Paper presented at the Delta Society International Conference Living Together: People, Animals and the Environment. August 1986, Boston, MassachusettsGoogle Scholar
Finch, P 1989 Learning from the past. In Paterson, D and Palmer, M (eds) The Status of Animals: Ethics, Education and Welfare pp 64–72. CAB International: WallingfordGoogle Scholar
Franti, C E, Kraus, J F, Borhani, N O, Johnson, S L and Tucker, S D 1980 Pet ownership in rural Northern California (El Dorado country). Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 176(2): 143–149Google Scholar
Gage, M G and Magnuson-Martinson, S 1988 Intergenerational continuity of attitudes and values about dogs. Anthrozoös 1: 233–239CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Godwin, R D 1975 Trends in the ownership of domestic pets in Great Britain. In R S Anderson (ed) Pet Animals and Society. London: Baillière TindallGoogle Scholar
Herzog, H A, Bctchart, N S and Pittman, R B 1991 Gender, sex role orientation, and attitudes towards animals. Anthrozoös 4: 184–191CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kidd, A H and Kidd, R M 1989 Factors in adults’ attitudes towards pets. Psychological Reports 65(3): 903–910CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Locke, J 1699 Some Thoughts Concerning Education. Reprinted 1964, Garforth F W (ed). Heinemann: LondonGoogle Scholar
Macdonald, A 1981 The pet dog in the home: a study of interactions. In Fogel, B (ed) Interrelations Between People and Pets pp 195–206. Charles C Thomas: IllinoisGoogle Scholar
Marx, M B, Stallones, L, Garity, T F and Johnson, TP 1988 Demographics of pet ownership among US adults 21 to 64 years of age. Anthrozoös 2: 33–37CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mehrabian, A and Epstein, N 1972 A measure of emotional empathy. Journal of Personality 40: 525–543CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Melson, G F 1989 Dimensions of the child-pet relationship and how to measure them. Paper presented at Monaco ‘89: 5th International Conference on the Relationship Between Humans and Animals. November 1989Google Scholar
Melson, G F 1990 Studying children’s attachment to their pets: a conceptual and methodological review. Anthrozoös 3: 91–99CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oskamp, S 1977 Attitudes and Opinions. Prentice Hall: New JerseyGoogle Scholar
Paul, E S 1992 Pets in Childhood. PhD thesis, University of CambridgeGoogle Scholar
Poresky, R H and Hendrix, C 1988 Developmental benefits of pets for young children. Paper presented at the Delta Society 7th annual conference People, Animals and the Environment - Exploring our InterdependenceGoogle Scholar
Poresky, R H, Hendrix, C, Mosier, J E and Samuelson, M L 1987 The companion animal bonding scale: internal reliability and construct validity. Psychological Reports 60: 743–746CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poresky, R H, Hendrix, C, Mosier, J E and Samuelson, M L 1988 Young children’s companion animal bonding and adults’ pet attitudes: a retrospective study. Psychological Reports 62: 419–425CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salomon, A 1981 Animals and children: the role of the pet. Canada’s Mental Health June: 9-13Google Scholar
Serpell, J A 1981 Childhood pets and their influence on adults’ attitudes. Psychological Reports 49: 651–654CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Serpell, J A and Paul, E S (in press) Pets and the development of positive attitudes to animals. In Manning A and Serpell J (eds) Animals and Human Society: Changing Perspectives. Routledge: LondonGoogle Scholar
Snedecor, G W and Cochran, W G 1976 Statistical Methods. Iowa State University Press: AmesGoogle Scholar
Templer, D I, Salter, C A, Dickey, S, Baldwin, R and Veleber, D M 1981 The construction of a pet attitude scale. The Psychological Record 31: 343–348CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vockell, E and Hodal, F 1980 Developing humane attitudes: what does research tell us? Humane Education 4: 19–21Google Scholar
Wise, J K and Kushman, J E 1984 Pet ownership by life group. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 185(6): 687–690Google Scholar