Tepper Deanna L, Howell Tiffani J, Bennett Pauleen C
Anthrozoology Research Group, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Bendigo, VIC 3552, Australia.
Animals (Basel). 2025 Jun 22;15(13):1845. doi: 10.3390/ani15131845.
As more families expand to include pets, it is important to explore how children interact and engage with them. While the past literature has focused on children's involvement in animal-assisted therapy or their relationships with assistance animals, their everyday relationships with pets remain understudied. Following expert discussion and focus groups, a sample of 319 parents/guardians completed a questionnaire on their child's relationship with their pet. Analysis of the data resulted in the development of a 38-item Child-Dog Engagement Scale (C-DES) and a 29-item Child-Cat Engagement Scale (C-CES). Each of these measures three factors: Emotional Attachment, Engagement, and Challenges. The development of parallel child-dog and child-cat scales offers a way to measure children's relationships across these species, while accounting for the different needs of these animals and the unique ways that children may interact and care for them. The scales therefore provide a foundation for future research exploring how children's relationships with both cats and dogs may contribute to their development.
随着越来越多的家庭增添了宠物，探讨孩子如何与宠物互动和相处就变得很重要。虽然过去的文献聚焦于孩子参与动物辅助治疗或他们与辅助动物的关系，但他们与宠物的日常关系仍未得到充分研究。经过专家讨论和焦点小组讨论后，319名家长/监护人完成了一份关于其孩子与宠物关系的问卷。对数据的分析得出了一个包含38个条目的儿童与狗互动量表（C-DES）和一个包含29个条目的儿童与猫互动量表（C-CES）。这两个量表均衡量三个因素：情感依恋、互动和挑战。平行的儿童与狗量表以及儿童与猫量表的开发提供了一种方法来衡量孩子与这些物种的关系，同时考虑到这些动物的不同需求以及孩子与它们互动和照顾它们的独特方式。因此，这些量表为未来研究探索孩子与猫和狗的关系如何促进他们的成长奠定了基础。
