Children's Drawings and Attachment to Pets

Bibliographic Data

ID13673201
AuthorsAline H Kidd (University of California, Davis, corresponding author), Robert M Kidd (University of California, Davis)
Year1995
Volume77
Issue1
Pages235-241
Publication date1995-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePsychological Reports (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0033-2941 • E-ISSN: 1558-691X
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2466/pr0.1995.77.1.235
PMID7501763
OpenAlexW2126742675
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited6

To help confirm the concept that distances placed between the self and other figures in children's drawings represent emotional distances, 242 pet-owning and 35 nonpet-owning kindergartners through eighth graders drew pictures of themselves, a pet, and/or a family member. Owners drew pets significantly closer than family-figures although the younger the child, the greater the distance between self and pet. Older children drew themselves holding pets significantly more often, but younger children placed the family-figure between the self and the pet significantly more often. There were no significant gender differences in self-figure/pet-figure distances, but cats, dogs, caged animals, and farm animals were placed significantly closer to self-figures than were fish. Over-all, owners were clearly emotionally closer to pets than to family members, but nonowners were as close emotionally to family members as were owners

Animal welfare · Animal-assisted therapy · Developmental psychology · Fish · Fish <Actinopterygii> · HUBzero · Pet therapy · Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior · Human-Animal Interaction Studies · Media, Gender, and Advertising · Psychology · Social Psychology

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