Companion Animal Attachment and Military Transfer

Abstract

Human attachment levels to companion animals were compared to whether a companion animal accompanied a military family at transfer time. Attachment levels were measured by combining preexisting subscale instruments to form a 21-item pet attachment scale. Data were collected through a mail survey (67% response rate) of registered pet owners who were to transfer within six months from 13 military installations. Attachment levels to companion animals were positively associated with taking the pet upon transferring (X²=11.44, p <.01).

A semantic differential scale was employed to measure “perceived” attachment levels, which were compared with the attachment levels from the combined subscale instrument. These two scales had a strong association with each other (X²=65.70, p<.001). Factor analysis of the combined subscale instrument yielded two factors, “pet companionship” and “pet affection,” and reliability analysis estimated Cronbach's Alpha of .95.     

Choosing between the Emotional Dog and the Rational Pal: A Moral Dilemma with a Tail

ABSTRACT

Neuroscientific studies indicate moral cognition involves a cognitive struggle between two systems in the brain: the emotional “hot” system and the rational “cold” system. Past research has shown that when presented with personal dilemmas, individuals showed greater brain activity in the hot system areas. However, when further probed about their decisions, moral dumbfounding often occurs. Family selection may help explain moral judgments. Oftentimes, people consider their pets as part of their family. Based on the past research on moral decision-making, the current study presented a novel approach to exploring moral decision-making by forcing participants to choose to save the life between biological family and psychological-kin. Participants (n = 573) were given moral dilemmas and forced to decide whether to save humans or pets from imminent death. The level of relationship between the human shifted six times (foreign tourist, hometown stranger, distant cousin, best friend, grandparent, and sibling), while relationship to the pet had two levels (your pet, someone else's pet). Willingness to save a pet over a human consistently decreased as level of relationship between the participant and the human in the scenario increased. Participants were also more likely to save their own pet over a human life than someone else's pet over a human life. The results suggest that pets are often viewed as psychological-kin. Females were found to be more likely to save their pets over non-immediate family members than males (all ps < 0.05), suggesting that males and females may differ in the structure of their moral reasoning.     

Adamchak's ideal family size and family background: A research note

Abstract

This study was an attempt to further investigate Adamchak's (1977) findings that women whose mothers had been employed around the time the respondent was sixteen had a higher ideal family size than those women whose mothers had not worked. During the research, it was discovered that the Adamchak results were not replicable. However, it was also noted that different ways of handling the response category of “As many as you want” (children) produced markedly different results.     

The Richness of the Child-Pet Relationship: A Consideration of Both Benefits and Costs of Pets to Children

Abstract

The present study was aimed at identifying meaningful and sensitive measures of the potential social-emotional benefits and costs that children report as associated with their involvement with companion animals. The sample consisted of 213 children in grades 3 through 7 who had pets and another 44 who did not. The high percentage of pet ownership found is not unusual. Two questionnaires measuring pet benefits and pet costs were administered. The benefits identified were mutuality, enduring affection, self-enhancing affection, and exclusivity of relationship. The costs identified were distress stemming from pet death or pet rejection, unfair grief, dissatisfaction with pet's needs, worry about pet safety, “getting into trouble,” and distress at not being allowed to care for pet needs.     

Ability and achievement

Abstract

In the model used in this study, father's occupation and education, the number of siblings, and the early intelligence level of the respondent are taken to be “predetermined” variables, with no assumption made as to causal order, with respect to later achieved status and to intelligence measured at maturity. Four successive dependent variables are educational attainment, intelligence at maturity, occupational achievement, and monetary earning. Results indicate that the ideal of equal educational opportunity is realized in the white population studied to the extent that progress through the school system is influenced at least as much by how bright you are as by “who” you are. However, the fact that the latter, indexed by measures of family size and status, does make a substantial difference in educational outcome, apart from its correlation with intelligence, is an indication that the ideal is far from being completely realized at this time.     

Pet Ownership and the Importance of Pets Among Adolescents

ABSTRACT

Pet ownership and the importance of one's pet were examined in a community-based, multi-ethnic sample of adolescents, age 12 to 17 years. Half of the adolescents lived in households with pets where ownership was more common among Whites, teens living in detached single family homes, and among teens in households with annual incomes above $40,000. Ratings of importance of one's pet varied as a function of racial/ethnic group and income. Additionally, the absence of siblings in the household, having sole responsibility for one's pet, and owning a cat or dog were associated with higher levels of pet importance. The considerable variability as a function of race/ethnicity in the likelihood of owning a pet, and the nature of the adolescent's relationship to his/her pet, indicates that future research would benefit by utilizing diverse samples and by attempting to determine why the role of pets in the family is a culturally bound phenomenon.     

Children and Their Pets

Abstract

This study examines the frequency of pet possession and its covariation with family variables (family size, housing conditions, parents' employment, maternal support) among elementary school children. Additionally, children's pet caring activities and their emotional relationship to pets were investigated. Subjects were 426 fourth graders (213 boys, 213 girls). Results indicate that pets are very frequently present in families, with the dog as the most common and most preferred animal. Parents' employment and maternal support do not covariate with pet possession, but housing conditions do. The child-pet relationship depends on childrens' gender, pet type and status of ownership (child vs. family). The intensity of pet caring is mainly related to pet type and ownership, whereas the quality of emotional contact depends on pet type and childrens' gender. On the background of manifold articles reporting case studies and educational, respectively clinical counseling experiences the discussion emphasizes the need for sound empirical research on the relationship between personality characteristics and pet ownership.     

Comic woman,victim woman: Pushing gender and genre boundaries in popular Hindi Cinema

“Women's film” in Hollywood is associated both with the genre of melodrama, the “weepie”, and with female spectatorship. In the Indian context of popular Hindi cinema, first, genre analysis itself is a questionable line of inquiry since several genres, the melodrama, musical, gangster, or mystery, combine in a single film, known locally as the masala (spicy) film; and second, films are scarcely divided by a gendered viewership. Yet I identify “women's films” as a distinct category in Hindi cinema, emerging around the ‘70s. These women's films typically center on female protagonists, dramatize their victimization and vindication; by the ‘80s under a range of influences these films mutated into rape‐revenge narratives.

However, another strain emerged within the ‘70s’ “women's film,” which drew on cinema's rich visual iconographic tradition of the sight gag, promulgating the comedic/tomboy heroine figure. It favored laughing and mocking patriarchal structures rather than surrendering to them in tears. Focusing on Ramesh Sippy's Sita aur Gita [1972] emblematic of this trend I explore theoretical concerns about associating genres with gender. In keeping with recent poststructuralist theories about gender and media ‘consumption I show how the film destabilized clear‐cut gender identification and stood for a promising trend that was sadly undercut. Thus, while genre might still be a useful analytical tool for Hindi cinema, defining women's film as female‐centered narratives is a viable category as long as we appreciate the instability in gendered viewer identification.     

Relevance of attributional and consequential information for environmental product labelling

Purpose

Considering the general agreement in the literature that environmental labelling should be based on consequential modelling, while all actually implemented environmental labelling schemes are based on attributional modelling, we investigate the arguments for this situation as provided in the literature, and whether a dual label, representing on the same label the attributional and consequential results for the same product, can be a relevant solution or at least contribute to a more informed discussion.

Methods

We developed a dual label for three hypothetical, comparable products and presented this for a small test audience, asking three questions, namely “Which product would you choose?”, “Was the attributional information useful?” and “Would you accept to have only the attributional information?”

Results and discussion

From this small pilot exercise, it appears that informed consumers may have a strong preference for consequential information and that the main problem in communicating consequential results is that they are perceived as less trustworthy and more uncertain due to the fact that the consequences are located in the future. It thus appears important to build into a consequential label some increased level of guarantee of future good behaviour.

Conclusions

We propose to apply the above questions to a more statistically representative audience to confirm or refute the findings of this little test exercise.

     

Knowledge as the source of progress: The Marshall family testament to the “Bushmen”

There can be no doubt that the Marshalls’ testament to the “Bushmen,” particularly Elizabeth's The Harmless People and John's The Hunters, played a major role in shaping a public image of humankind's ancient ancestors, especially in the United States. John has said, correctly I believe, that simply by being made known through his family's efforts, Khoisan‐speaking “Bushmen” were brought into the surviving ethnographic record that intrigued a growing number of anthropologists as well as the general public at the beginning of the 1960s. I offer here a preliminary account, based on archival materials, personal letters, etc., of the paradigms and politics that underlay their efforts. I begin with an examination of the extent to which Laurence Marshall must be seen as the inspiration for and the driving force behind the family project, then turn to a consideration of J. O. Brew's role in it. Although this was an ethnoarchaeological project from its beginning, Brew's role has been wholly unappreciated, but cannot be exaggerated; he was, in terminology appropriate to the business nature of the case, Chief Executive Officer to Laurence's Chairman of the Board.

I then turn to the political arena of prehistory—of the living and the dead—that became as important as the arena of its field sites in the 1960s. The Marshalls were thrust into dormancy by academically more powerful rivals who publicly and privately contested their work, but there can be little doubt that their record critically influenced reawakening anthropological interest in hunting societies. Indeed, struggles to be the proprietary heirs to the Marshalls’ “Bushman” legacy ricochetted off the walls of academia from Cambridge (US) to Berkeley to Johannesburg to London to Cambridge (UK).

Finally, I consider the mythic underpinnings of the Marshalls’ work, and conclude that while Elizabeth, in The Harmless People, presents the least occluded view of the Marshalls’ Kalahari, seen as a whole John's “Bushmen” films reveal the expanding of a sensitive consciousness not only to a gestalt of life but to the complexity of filmic (re)presentation and to the limitations of audiences to comprehend what is presented. Collectively, his films constitute important ethnographic documents. They are not, however, dependable documents of the objectified peoples made subjects in the films, but faithful documents of the filmmaker/ethnographer situated in the discourse of a distorted modernity at the time they were made. They permit us to draw inferences about the species of colonial ideology that was pervasive at that time.     

Pet-Care Management in Child-Rearing Families

Abstract

This exploratory pilot study examined parents' and children's responsibilities for pet care as compared to other household chores. Families included in the study (N=42) included children ranging in age from preschoolers to young adults. The results indicate that pet care is a parental chore in families with preschoolers, it becomes a shared parent-child responsibility in families with schoolchildren, and, in families with teenagers, pet care is primarily a youngster's responsibility. The results suggest that pet-care patterns within child-rearing families may differ from the division of labor for other types of household chores.     

In memoriam: Napoleon A. Chagnon

Anthropologist Napoleon A. Chagnon was a central figure in the development and foundation of evolutionary approaches to human behavior. We highlight his ethnographic fieldwork, contributions to studies of kinship and marriage, and his foundational role in the development of evolutionary approaches to human behavior. As a holistic anthropologist Chagnon led anthropology toward the integration of cultural and evolutionary theory. Finally, his leadership was central in the foundation of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society.EpigraphRicardo, a Brazilian Protestant missionary who was assisting the scientific team and who has worked with the Yanomami for over 25 years … told me to run and get my camera. “There's going to be a fight,” he said. Then he turned to leave. “Aren't you going to stay?” I asked. “Nah, happens all the time. You stay, you're an anthropologist, should be interesting. Call me if anyone gets hurt.”     

Characterizing the Data in Online Companion-dog Obituaries to Assess Their Usefulness as a Source of Information about Human–Animal Bonds

Online pet obituary sites host hundreds of obituaries regarding the passing of companion animals. Often composed by the owner or primary caretaker of the animal, they are a potential source of data about human–animal bonds where there were strong positive human emotions surrounding the animal at point of death. The aim of the present study was to characterize on-line pet obituaries and to evaluate their usefulness as a source of information on the human–animal bond. One hundred and thirty full obituaries of dogs were studied. Where the role of the writer could be identified, the majority of obituary writers identified themselves as a female parental figure to the dog (34.6%); however, obituaries were also written by male parental figures (7.7%) and children (5.4%). Most obituaries (60%) fell within the 100-400 words length range. Obituaries were seen to express several key concepts. For instance, dogs were described as “child-like,” “part of the family,” showing “sympathy” and/or “gratitude” to the owner, and having a “sense of humor.” For their part, writers expressed “guilt” over the dog’s death, discussed a concept of the “afterlife” and noted an “instant connection” between themselves and the dog. A high proportion of the obituaries discussed the afterlife (51%) and indicated that the dog was considered part of the family (49%). There were some significant associations between concept usage within obituaries. Dogs that were described as “child-like” were more often perceived to be in an “afterlife” and to have had an “instant connection” with obituary writers (x² = 38.08, p < 0.001). We conclude that online pet obituaries can be a valuable source of information on human feelings surrounding a companion animal death.     

The Strange Animal Situation Test

ABSTRACT

Many tools assess the reactions of humans encountering familiar or unfamiliar partners or environments. Companion animals belong to our everyday environment and influence our lives. Whereas many standardized tools test companion animals' reactions to humans, few evaluate humans' reactions to companion animals. We present here a test with a guinea pig that can be applied to a wide range of people in the home environment. This standardized test and simple coding system enabled us to characterize individual behavioral profiles of children and compare them in relation to different factors (e.g., gender, age, pet ownership). We observed 59 children (32 girls, 27 boys), aged between 6 and 12 years old. Our results show that most children first looked at the guinea pig (72%), smiled when they saw it (49%), and then went directly towards it without looking at their parent (79%). Many children touched the animal without hesitation (86%). Moreover, this test reveals more than the mere interest of children in guinea pigs. Indeed, a cluster analysis differentiated four behavioral profiles that reflected aspects of the children's experience, gender, and lifestyles. When encountering the unfamiliar guinea pig, children could be “confident” (go straight to the animal and touch it; 64%), “anxious” (look at parent; 12%), “indirect” (hesitate and touch; 14%), or “careful” (emit vocal and/or verbal behaviors; 10%). The potential future application of this research is to compare behavioral profiles quantitatively over the long term, taking into account the development and experiences of people with typical development and those with atypical development (e.g., autistic disorders).     

Why Children Keep Pets: The Influence of Child and Family Characteristics

Abstract

Two separate but complementary questionnaire surveys were undertaken to assess the relationship between various demographic and family variables and individual variation in levels of childhood pet ownership. The first survey investigated pet ownership levels in a cross-section of families with schoolaged children. In the second, a large sample of university students were invited to report retrospectively on the pets they and their families had owned during their childhood. Results from both surveys showed that age, gender, sibling status and number, and parental attitudes toward pets were all significantly related to levels of childhood pet ownership. The number of children in the family, and parents' attitudes toward pets, were also found to be significantly related to levels of family pet ownership.     

Diseño y validación de dos escalas sobre actitudes y conocimientos ante la terapia con muñecas en demencias

IntroductionNon-pharmacological interventions are often the subject of debate in the scientific field. Therefore, it is essential to know the attitudes that health professionals have towards the novel Doll Therapy in Dementia (DTD). The objective of this study was to design and validate two questionnaires to find out the attitudes and knowledge on DTD in health professionals.Material and methodsA total of 120 Spanish-speaking Geriatrics and Gerontology professionals, with a mean age of 38.3 years (DT = 10.99), participated, mostly women (88.3%). A questionnaire (TCM_DEMCO) on knowledge about the DTD and a questionnaire (TCM_DEMAC) on attitudes towards the DTD were designed and applied. The construct validity was assessed by exploratory factor analysis, and reliability was calculated using Cronbach's α.ResultsThe exploratory factor analysis of the TCM_DEMCO questionnaire retained 10 items in 5 factors (“environment and dementia”, “therapeutic application”, “activities”, “methodology” and “benefits and implications”) that explained 70.1% of the total variability, giving a Cronbach α coefficient value > 0.50. The exploratory factor analysis of the TCM_DEMAC questionnaire retained 10 items in two factors (“positive attitudes” and “negative attitudes”) that explained 61.2% of the total variability, giving a Cronbach α value > 0.85.ConclusionsBoth questionnaires are a brief tool to learn about the attitudes and knowledge of Spanish-speaking Geriatrics and Gerontology professionals in matters of DTD. The reliability and validity analyses performed showed good psychometric properties of these tools.     

Social evaluation of municipal solid waste management systems from a life cycle perspective: a systematic literature review

Purpose

The social aspects of municipal solid waste management (MSWM) systems are underpinning their sustainability and effectiveness. The assessment of these systems from a life cycle perspective is widespread throughout environmental life cycle assessment (LCA), but few studies have used social life cycle assessment (S-LCA). The present study is an innovative review with the objective to analyse and describe the current level of development of S-LCA applications in MSWM, and to identify the main methodological challenges and best practices, aiming at recommending approaches to harmonise future S-LCA applications in MSWM.

Materials and methods

A systematic review of the literature found 36 relevant scientific articles. These were submitted to bibliometric and content analysis, which includes an analysis of how methodological aspects of the four phases of S-LCA were applied in comparison with best practice and existing guidelines.

Results and discussion

There was a predominance of case studies in developing countries (59%) and evaluation of the stages of collection/transportation, pre-processing (sorting) and landfilling (55%). There were more studies focusing on stakeholders, “workers” and “local communities” and in the impact subcategories “employment”, “working hours”, “health and safety/working conditions”, “community involvement/participation” and “health and safety/living conditions of community”. There was great variability in the application of the method (47% of the studies included methodological developments). However, the 39% based on UNEP guidelines were closer to a methodological consensus.

Conclusion

In general, studies need more detail and clarity in describing the methodological decisions used. Improvements are needed for issues that limit the S-LCA method, including the difficulties of covering the entire life cycle, relating impacts to the functional unit, standardizing impact assessment methods, addressing allocation and data quality issues and interpretation of results and their limitations. Improvements can be achieved by using participatory methods in the selection of categories, subcategories and impact indicators, as well as by clarifying the definition of a product system and detailing “cut-off criteria” of processes/organizations and the impact of these decisions on results.

     

Index,Volume 15, 2002

Abstract

This study was designed to assess the impact of an ongoing pet visitation program on the behavior and emotional state of adjudicated female adolescents at a medium secure residential facility over an eight-week period. To our knowledge, this study is the first randomized trial with a pretest-posttest design aimed at determining whether unstructured animal-assisted activities (AAA) have a positive impact on this unique population of adolescents. Using a random number table, 23 residents were randomly assigned to participate either in the pet visitation program (n = 13) or the facility's usual activities (n = 10). The program entailed weekly one-hour sessions during which participants were involved in activities such as grooming the animals, giving commands, playing fetch, and talking to the animals' handlers. To assess the program's effects on participants' behavior and emotional state, two quantitative instruments, the Youth Self-Report for Ages 11–18 (YSR) and the Resident Behavior Assessment (RBA), and a qualitative survey (designed by the researchers) were administered to the participants both prior to the pet visitation program and following its completion.

Results from the two quantitative measures suggested that the pet visitation program did not have a significant effect on the behavior or emotional state of the pet visitation participants. Qualitative results indicated that most of the participants enjoyed some aspect of the pet visitation program. In light of the small sample size and the unanticipated difficulties encountered in the conduct of the study, this research should be considered a pilot study. The limitations inherent to studying the effects of AAA programs in adjudicated adolescents are discussed.     

A Survey of Pet-and Non-Pet-Owning Swedish Adolescents: Demographic Differences and Health Issues

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to describe the prevalence of pet ownership in adolescents in Sweden and establish whether any gender, age or health-related differences exist between those who own pets and those who do not. In addition, the study aimed to explore the relationships between species of pet, age, gender, and other socio-demographic variables and the perceived importance of pets. Three age groups (13–14 years-old, 15–16 years-old, and 17–18 years-old) of adolescents, resident in a single county in Sweden, were surveyed using the questionnaire “Liv och Hälsa Ung” (“Youth Life and Health”). A total of 8,709 respondents were included in the analysis (pet owners = 5,793; non-pet owners = 2,916). Associations between importance of the pet and demographic variables and general self-rated health were investigated using logistic regression analysis. The prevalence of pet owners in the sample was 65%, and the most common types of pets were, in descending order of popularity, cats, dogs, rodents, fish/reptiles, and horses. Most of the pet owners said their pets were very or quite important to them, for the three age groups (73.1–88.6%). In general, pets were more important for the female respondents. Importance was dependent on type of pet, with male and female dog owners and female horse owners rating their pets as more important than the owners of other species of pet. Respondents who did not own a pet were more physically active than their pet- owning peers. Pet owners with the best self-rated health also attributed the greatest importance to their pet. However, adolescents with pets reported more psychological problems and somatic health aspects than those who did not own pets. This finding calls for further studies to be conducted, with designs allowing causal conclusions to be drawn.