The Impact of Petting and Building Relationships with Pets in Childhood on Future Personality Development
Abstract
Relationships with pets for children are important in their stage of personality development. Interacting with pets for a long time will cause children, especially young children, to from an attachment to pets. This kind of attachment will lead to a change in children’s social development. Research has shown that by using Lexington Attachment to Pets Scale (LAPS) and other statistical analyses, small children are easier to form attachments, and girls are more emotionally connected with their pets than boys of all ages. Also, keeping pets is beneficial for children’s development of self-concept, prosocial tendency, and daily living ability, and they would be kinder when they grow up. It is recommended for most of the families to keep pets during children’s childhood, if possible. But the decision depends on the financial ability of a family, and parents’ opinions—whether it is suitable for their child/children to keep pets.
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