Van Houtte and Jarvis - 8

Question 1

Van Houtte and Jarvis

Answer 1

1. 1995

2. The role of Pets in preadolescent Psychosocial Development

Question 2

Background to Van Houtte and Jarvis

Answer 2

1. Studies have shown that children see their pets as warm and empathetic, possibly because pets show unconditional positive regard for owners (they do not ask for anything in return
2. Therefore, it seems having a pet is advantageous
3. When children are aged between 9 and 12, they form an identity and develop a sense of autonomy which affect their self-esteem and self-image
4. Beth van Houtte and Patricia Jarvis (1995) focused on young adolescents, looking at pet ownership, and children’s well-being

Question 3

Reason for Van Houtte and Jarvis

Answer 3

1. Van Houtte and Jarvis felt there was a need for a study controlling variable to see if pet ownership causes an improvement in wellbeing, as evidence has tended to come from questionnaires without controls
2. They chose to do a study using a control group of non-pet-owning children against which they compares the findings of the pet-owning children

Question 4

Autonomy

Answer 4

1. being able to make one’s own decisions

2. self governing

Question 5

Aims of Van Houtte and Jarvis

Answer 5

1. To find out how pets affect children’s development
2. particularly, how having pets, or not having pets, affected children’s self-esteem, self-concept, sense of autonomy, and attachment to animals

Question 6

Participants of Van Houtte and Jarvis

Answer 6

1. 130 children between 8 and 11 years old
2. Children’s school gave permission for the study
3. Participants were given a brief explanation before the study started and were informed of their rights, such as their right to withdraw at any time
4. Of the 130 children, 65 were pet owners and 65 were non-pet owners

Question 7

Procedure of Van Houtte and Jarvis

Answer 7

1. Interviews were used to find out background information, such as whether parents were married or not, their family economic and social status, and how many brothers and sisters they had
2. The pet-owning children were then matched with non-pet-owning children based on this information
3. Four measures were then taken, matching the four dependent variables to find out how having a pet affects self-esteem, autonomy, self-concept, and attachment to animals

Question 8

Independent variable of Van Houtte and Jarvis

Answer 8

whether the child owned a pet of not

Question 9

Dependent variable of Van Houtte and Jarvis

Answer 9

1. Autonomy, self-esteem, self-concept, attachment to animals
2. all measured by questionnaires

Question 10

Measure of autonomy

Answer 10

1. 20 questionnaire items, using likert-type scales
2. asking about perception of parents as people, how much parents are idealised, how much parents are depended upon, and how much the child sees themselves as a distinct individual

Question 11

Measure of self-concept

Answer 11

1. used the self-concept scale for children

2. Includes 22 descriptions that find out children’s views of themselves, such as “I am happy”

Question 12

Measure of self-esteem

Answer 12

1. standard self-esteem scale was used

2. asking how much the child agrees with statements such as “I am satisfied with myself”

Question 13

measure of attachment to animals

Answer 13

1. questionnaire given to pet-owning participants
2. Included statements such as “I consider my pet to be a friend”
3. Non-pet owners were given a different questionnaire to suit them

Question 14

Results of Van Houtte and Jarvis for self-concept

Answer 14

1. 11 year old pet owners had higher self concept than non-pet owners of the same age

Question 15

Results of Van Houtte and Jarvis for self-esteem

Answer 15

1. 9 year old pet owners had lower self esteem than 11 year old pet owners
2. 10 and 11 year old pet owners had noticeably high self esteem than non pet owners

Question 16

Results of Van Houtte and Jarvis for attachment to animals

Answer 16

1. the results for pet owners and non-pet owners were very similar so attachment to animals was taken as not relating to owning a pet

Question 17

Results of Van Houtte and Jarvis for autonomy

Answer 17

1. pet owners were more likely than non-pet owners to see their parents as people
2. pet owners could see their parents in roles other than the parental role
3. they both suggest autonomy

Question 18

Conclusions of Van Houtte and Jarvis

Answer 18

1. There was some support for the idea that pet owners showed higher autonomy, though this was only focusing on the aspects of how parents were perceived, not on all measures of autonomy
2. For 11 year olds, owning a pet was found to go with higher self-concept and self-esteem
3. Attachment to pets does not seem to relate to whether a pet is owned or not
4. The older age group of pet owners had higher self-esteem and so it was thought that just before the move into adolescence pet ownership had the most positive impact on development

Question 19

Strengths of Van Houtte and Jarvis

Answer 19

1. Results can be applied to real life. Pets can be used as support when there is stress, especially for 11 year olds with low self-esteem. this makes it an example for psychology in action
2. Judith Seigel (1990) found that pet support for the elderly helped to reduce stress. This is evidence that supports Van Houtte and Jarvis
3. There was a lot of control over possible extraneous variables including number of siblings, parental marital status, and social class. This helped to show that these variable did not contribute to the scores

Question 20

Weaknesses of Van Houtte and Jarvis

Answer 20

1. the measure of ‘pet owner’ was for a cat or a dog. Children classified as non-pet owners might have in fact owned a different kind of pet
2. Study used a specific age range of children in one school. So the results may not be generalisable beyond the population represented by the sample
3. Results may not apply to kids in special education or children with illnesses