Preadolescents’ relationships with pet dogs: Relationship continuity and associations with adjustment

ABSTRACT

Research on human–animal interaction in children has been studied in isolation rather than integrated with core theories of children’s relationships. This study is one of the first to examine how children’s relationships with pet dogs are related to their human relationships (parent–child attachments, friendships) and to child adjustment, and to include observational assessment of children’s interactions with their pet dog. Children (9 to 11 years old, n = 99) completed questionnaires regarding relationships with pet dogs, parents, and friends. Half the children were observed interacting with their pet dog. Children and teachers reported children’s adjustment. Children who felt closer to their dogs were more securely attached to mothers and fathers and reported more positive qualities and less conflict with friends. Children with more secure attachments to mothers, and greater companionship with dogs, interacted more with their dogs. Parental attachment and friendship quality, but not the pet dog relationship, were related to child adjustment.

Acknowledgments

We thank the families who participated in this project.

Notes

¹The sample size was small for testing models with individual scale items as indicators of the latent variables and potentially higher order factors. Nevertheless, we conducted an exploratory CFA analysis in which we tested a model in which each of the individual items loaded on the relevant 3 scales (affection, admiration, and companionship), and the scales loaded onto a single factor. The CFI for this model was .94, with a statistically significant Chi Square test χ²(24) = 53.39, p < .001.