Young Children's Companion Animal Bonding and Adults' Pet Attitudes: A Retrospective Study

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Abstract
Adults' attitudes toward pets were related to their ages when they had their first pets and the bonds they formed with their most important pets. Contemporary pet attitudes were more strongly related to childhood bonding scores than contemporary bonding scores. Adults' contemporary attitudes toward pets were positively correlated with their retrospective childhood Companion Animal Bonding scores. The Companion Animal Semantic Differential pet attitude measures were also most positive for those who had a first pet when they were younger than 6 yr. and least positive for those who had a first pet when they were over 10 yr. old. The childhood bonding scores were more predictive of contemporary pet attitudes than contemporary bonding scores. No significant differences were found between pet owners and nonowners.

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