Personality and Pet Ownership
A Preliminary Study
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 13659565 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Julie Edelson (Richard Stockton State College, corresponding author), D Lester (0000-0003-1357-8672, Richard Stockton State College) |
| Year | 1983 |
| Volume | 53 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 990-990 |
| Publication date | 1983-12-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Psychological Reports (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0033-2941 • E-ISSN: 1558-691X |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.2466/pr0.1983.53.3.990 |
| OpenAlex | W1997301030 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 9 |
| References cited | 3 |
Pet ownership seems to be related to penonaliry traits. For example, Kidd and Feldmann (1981) found that pet owners had higher needs for numrance and lower needs for succorance and abasement, and Kidd, et ul. (1983) have explored the relationship between type of pet owned and the owner's personality. In the present study, 55 female and 36 male single college students in an introductory course in psychology ( M m g a = 19.1 yr., SD = 1.0; range 18 to 2 2 ) were given a self-disclosure scale (Jourard, 1971) . the Extraversion scale of the Eysenck Personality Inventory (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1968) , asked which pets they owned, asked to rank cat, bird, dog, and fish for the order in which they would prefer them as pets, and asked to rate on a graphic rating scale how strongly they would consider owning a cat, bird, dog, and fish if circumstances permitted. Females were more likely to own a cat (point-biserial r = 0.25 one-tailed p = 0.008) but no more likely to own a dog, bird or fish. In ranking their preferences for these four types of pets, females ranked dogs lower in preference ( r = 0.24. p = 0 . 0 1 ) . For future likelihood of ownership, females ranked cats as more likely ( r = 0.20, fi = 0 .02 ) and a lower ranking for fish ( r = 0.26, p = 0 . 0 1 ) . Self-disclosure to mothers, best male friend, and best female friend were unrelated to pet choices. However, those with higher self-disclosure to fathers consistently showed a lower preference for cats and fish and a higher preference for dogs. For example, high self-disclosure to fathers was related to a higher ranking for dogs ( r = 0.23, p = 0.023) and a lower ranking for fish ( r 0.26, p = 0 .013 ) . Extraversion was related to pet ownership only for males. The more extraverted males ranked cats lower and birds higher ( r = 0.38 and 0.48, respectively) and were more likely to anticipate owning a dog and less likely a cat ( 7 = 0.45 and 0.28, respectively)
Big Five personality traits · Biology · Extraversion and introversion · Eysenck Personality Questionnaire · Fish · Fish <Actinopterygii> · Personality · Preference · Statistics · Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior · Human-Animal Interaction Studies · Mathematics · Psychology · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment · Social Psychology
Cat owners’ disenfranchised guilt and its predictive value on owners’ depression and anxiety
Pets and politics
The impact of owner personality traits and cat lifestyle decisions on cat-related guilt
The Perks of Pet Ownership? The Effects of Pet Ownership on Well-Being During the Covid-19 Pandemic
Effects of stroking horses on both humans' and horses' heart rate responses 1
The perception of animals amongst animal liberationists and hunters
Personalities of Self-Identified "Dog People" and "Cat People
The Relationship between Thing-Person Orientation and the Perception of Animals
Dog People and Cat People Differ on Dominance-Related Traits
| Citations per year | 0.24 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1988 - 2025 (38) |
| Highly cited | No |