SEX, CHILDHOOD PETS AND YOUNG-ADULTS SELF-CONCEPT SCORES

The Tennessee Self-concept Scale and Companion Animal Bonding Scale we re administered to 394 university students to determine the influence of pets on adults' self-concept scores. No significant main effects of sex, type of companion animal, or human-animal bond were found. Signi ficant interactions, bur no main effects were found for those who list ed only dogs or cats as their most important childhood pet. The intera ction of childhood pet by sex indicated that boys with dogs and girls with cars had higher scores and girls with dogs and boys with cats had lower self-concept scores. These results support the hypothesis that children's relationships with companion animals are linked to their ad ult self-concept scores in a complex interactive manner rather than as direct simple effects.