topic 7 - Van Houtte and Jarvis (1995)- the role of pets in preadolescent psychological development

Question 1

what was the aim of Van Houtte and Jarvis (1995)?

Answer 1

to find how pets affected child development. So how having pets or not having pets influenced a child’s self-esteem, self-concept, sense of autonomy and attachment to animals.

Question 2

what was the procedure of Van Houtte and Jarvis (1995)?

Answer 2

130 children were chosen by their teachers to participate in the study. The children were put in matched pair designs where they experienced similar conditions ie whether the parents were married, the social/ economical status etc. The pet owning children were matched with a non-pet owning child depending on the information and whether they were similar.

Question 3

what were the results of Van Houtte and Jarvis (1995)?

Answer 3

self concept:
11 yr old pet owners had a higher self-concept than non-pet owners of the same age.

self-esteem:
9 yr old pet owners had lower self-esteem than 11 yr old pet owners. 10 and 11 yr old pet owners had noticeably higher self-esteem than non-pet owners.

attachment to animals:
the results were very similar so attachment to animals was not considered as related to owning a pet

autonomy:
pet owners were more likely than non-pet owners to see their parents as people and pet owners could see their parents in roles other than the parental role, both suggests autonomy

Question 4

what was the conclusion of Van Houtte and Jarvis (1995)?

Answer 4

11yr olds, owning a pet led to higher self-esteem and self-concept

attachment did not related to whether the person owns a pet or not

The older age group of pet owners had higher self-esteem and it was thought that just before the move into adolescence pet ownership had the most positive impact on development.

Question 5

what are the strengths of Van Houtte and Jarvis (1995)?

Answer 5

1. One strength is the results are applicable to real life. Pets can be used as support to improve stress especially for 11yr olds with low self-esteem. Evidence from other studies ie Judith Seigel (1990) showed that pet support for the elderly helped reduce stress.
2. Another strength is the control over extraneous variables in the study. Due to the use of matched pair design extraneous variables which could have likely influenced the study such as number of siblings, wealth and more, participants were experiencing around the same conditions.

Question 6

what are the weaknesses of Van Houtte and Jarvis (1995)?

Answer 6

1. One weakness is the measure of ‘pet-owner’ was only for cats and dogs. Children of non pet-owners might have owned a pet but not one which was classified as such.
2. Another weakness, it the lack of generalisability. The results may not be the same for those in special education or children with an illness so representing the results beyond the sample population is difficult.

Question 7

Explain why it was important that in both the pet owner condition and the non pet owner condition, there is a similar number of participants who have divorced/separated parents.

Answer 7

Because one of the variables is the child’s esteem and usually a child divorced/ separated parents decreases the child’s self esteem or causes stress for the child. This meant that the variables must be matched for similar experiences.

Question 8

Suggest why pet-ownership might help the child develop autonomy.

Answer 8

Because having a pet teaches a child responsibility and gives them more control over their life and others.

Question 9

Describe the relationship between age and self-esteem for the non-pet owning group.

Answer 9

As the child grows up their self-esteem increases.

Question 10

Describe the relationship between age and self-esteem for the pet owning group.

Answer 10

As the child grows up the self-esteem decreases.

Question 11

Explain why it was important that in both the pet owner condition and the non pet owner condition, there is a similar number of participants who have divorced/separated parents.

Answer 11

Because one of the variables is the child’s esteem and usually a child divorced/ separated parents decreases the child’s self esteem or causes stress for the child. This meant that the variables must be matched for similar experiences.

four measures were taken: measure of autonomy, measure of self-concept, measure of self-esteem and measure of attachment to animals.

Question 12

Suggest why having a pet might help increase a child’s self-esteem and self-concept. Use the concepts of unconditional positive regard and support in your answer.

Answer 12

Because pets display unconditional positive regard towards their owner, there are no conditions of worth placed against the pet owner therefore they value themselves more based on this and based on the beliefs of others.

Question 13

what type of experiment was in Van Houtte and Jarvis (1995)?

Answer 13

natural experiment

Question 14

define autonomy

Answer 14

being able to make one’s own choices, self-governing.

Question 15

how many measures were taken?

Answer 15

4

Question 16

what were the 4 measures?

Answer 16

measure of autonomy
measure of self-concept
measure of self-esteem
measure of attachment to animals.

Question 17

how was the measure of autonomy taken?

Answer 17

20 questionnaire items, using likert-type scales asked about perception of parents as people such as how much parents were idealised or relied on.

Question 18

what are strengths of natural experiments?

Answer 18

> The IV is naturally occurring and not manipulated

> The environment in which participants are studied is real and naturalistic

Question 19

what are weaknesses of natural experiments?

Answer 19

> random allocation for certain conditions of the IV is impossible so there may be issues with participant variables that can influence the findings.
extraneous variables are difficult to control.

Question 20

how was the measure of attachment to animals taken?

Answer 20

a questionnaire was used to the pet-owning participants with statements such as, “I consider my pet to be my friend” and non-pet owners were given a questionnaire which suited them.