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A longitudinal test of the belief that companion animal ownership can help reduce loneliness
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Gilbey, Andrew, McNicholas, June and Collis, Glyn M.. (2007) A longitudinal test of the belief that companion animal ownership can help reduce loneliness. Anthrozoos, Vol.20 (No.4). pp. 345-353. ISSN 0892-7936
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Official URL: http://www.bergpublishers.com/BergJournals/Anthroz...
Abstract
The widely held belief that companion animal ownership can help to reduce loneliness was tested using a quasi-experimental longitudinal design. Over a six-month period, 59 participants completed the UCLA-Loneliness Scale when they were seeking to acquire a companion animal. Participants' loneliness was measured again six-months after their initial recruitment, by which time 35 of the 59 participants had acquired a new companion animal. There was no evidence that companion animal acquisition helped to reduce levels of loneliness, irrespective of whether participants already owned a companion animal at the time of seeking to acquire a new companion animal, or the type of companion animal that was acquired. There was no evidence that participants who ultimately acquired a new companion animal differed from participants who did not, suggesting that the findings were not a consequence of a self-selection bias. The perseverance and apparent strength of the belief that companion animal ownership can alleviate loneliness is discussed in relation to the current findings.
| Item Type: | Journal Article |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GN Anthropology G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences S Agriculture > SF Animal culture |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Science > Psychology |
| Journal or Publication Title: | Anthrozoos |
| Publisher: | Berg Publishers |
| ISSN: | 0892-7936 |
| Date: | December 2007 |
| Volume: | Vol.20 |
| Number: | No.4 |
| Number of Pages: | 9 |
| Page Range: | pp. 345-353 |
| Identification Number: | 10.2752/089279307X245473 |
| Status: | Peer Reviewed |
| Publication Status: | Published |
| Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access |
| URI: | http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/30807 |
Data sourced from Thomson Reuters' Web of Knowledge
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