Relationship Between Children, Dogs Topic of Kent State Study
Families needed for psychology department research project
How children relate to their pet dogs is the topic of a study by researchers in Kent State University's Department of Psychology. Professor Kathy Kerns is leading the study, in which researchers are trying to determine how a child's relationship to their pet dog relates to their connections with other people and how they adjust as they grow. Kerns said the study is part of a grant from the National Institute of Health to examine how pet relationships fit in with other kinds of relationships children have. "So do they provide support?" she said. "Are they particularly important for kids who may be having difficulties in their human relationships? The studies that are out there have sort of looked at pet relationships in isolation, so we don…
In this Article:
Kathryn Kerns
10:31 am on Wednesday, January 23, 2013
hello, as the investigator for the study, I'll leave a short comment to answer your questions... of course we want a diverse sample, not just those kids who feel very close to their dogs. We cannot force families to participate, this is a volunteer project, but we usually get a broad group of families in our studies. To respond to the second question, we are using several methods to look at … more ›