Quality of Attachment to Companion Animals among U.S. Adults 21 to 64 Years of Age

Abstract

Previous reports of scales and indices used in studying attachment to companion animals have not included representative samples of the United States population or have failed to show good psychometric properties. This report includes psychometric analyses of a companionanimal attachment scale used among a national probability sample of United States adults aged 21 to 64 years. Internal structures of the scale were shown to be good with all eight items loading strongly on one factor. Cronbach's alpha was 0.75 with all eight items included. As expected, those individuals who had sole responsibility for the care of the companion animal had stronger attachment scores, as did individuals who had never been married. Type of pet was not significantly associated with attachment scores, which indicates that this scale may be useful for all companion animals, not solely for dogs and cats. However, further work including a larger sample of bird and fish owners needs to be done before the value of this attachment scale in that population of owners is clearly established.