Personality Characteristics and Preferences in Pet Ownership

Abstract

The possibilities for matching pets to owners' personality-types for physical and psycho-social benefits were explored. It was hypothesized that self-identified dog- and cat-lovers would show significant differences on the autonomy, dominance, nurturance, and aggression scales of the Edwards Personal Preference Test. 223 adults completed an experimenter-designed questionnaire and all of the specific Edwards Schedule A questions. An analysis of variance was applied to the scale scores transformed into standardized T scores for each of the Edwards scales. The Scheffé test showed that male cat-lovers were higher and all pet-lovers were lower in autonomy, that male pet- and dog-lovers were higher and female cat-lovers were lower in dominance, that female pet-lovers were higher and all cat-lovers were lower in nurturance, and that male dog-lovers were higher and female dog- and cat-lovers were lower in aggression. The demonstrated differences in owner personality should facilitate matching pets and people to maximize the physical and psycho-social therapeutic benefits of pet ownership.