Date of Award

2023

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Graham, Steven

Area of Concentration

Psychology

Abstract

Pets are becoming increasingly more important to their guardians. Pet care has become a multibillion dollar industry, and research shows people who own pets are reporting increasing levels of attachment to their pets, and increasingly beginning to see their pets as members of their family. Successful replications of the strange situation attachment style experiment have been made with both cats and dogs, and research has examined attachment style from human to pet. Despite this, only one study exists that examines differences in well-being in pet owners and non-owners, which was set during the COVID-19 pandemic, and none exist that compare differences in attachment style between pet owners and non-owners. The current study seeks to rectify this by comparing well-being, life satisfaction, and attachment style between pet owners (N = 72) and non owners (N = 19). Pet owners scored higher in general well-being and life satisfaction than non owners, though these differences were not significant. Pet owners were less anxiously attached, but more avoidantly attached, though again both these differences failed to reach significance. The results suggest that while pets likely do contribute positively to general well-being and secure attachment, mitigating factors such as external stressors may have dampened the effects in this particular study. These findings are consistent with the majority of research in this field, and have implications that highlight the continued importance pets have to their guardians and the various ways pets improve their lives.

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