Ekaterina K. Scherba

Pet attachment is a phenomenon widely studied in various cultures, but little attention has been devoted to whether it varies across cultures. This topic requires a valid invariant instrument to measure pet attachment. Thus, the aim of this study was cross-cultural examination of the Lexington Attachment to Pets Scale (LAPS). A total of 906 respondents from India, Italy, Poland, and Russia took part in the study. The initial version of LAPS has 23 items and three factors: General attachment, People substitution, and Animal rights/welfare. We expected that (1) LAPS retains its structure across the four countries studied, and that (2) the level of pet attachment varies from country to country. The confirmatory factor analysis did not support the original three-factor structure in all the countries, with specific deviations from the initial structure in each participating country. After many iterations, we decided to investigate a new optimal structure of LAPS. The final one-factor model consisted of eleven items was supported, and this modification was labelled the Brief Lexington Attachment to Pets Scale (B-LAPS). B-LAPS had high omega internal consistency (0.84–0.88), and has demonstrated configural, full metric, and partial scalar measurement invariance across countries. It was shown that the highest score in pet attachment was found in Poland, followed by India, Italy, and Russia. Future research is needed to further validate the external validity of B-LAPS and assess its usefulness in research, animal-assisted therapy, and education.

Objective. The study is aimed at investigating the relationship between attachment to pets and pro-social personality characteristics – environmental identity, moral motives, and ecological lifestyle. Background. Attachment to pets is being investigated in the context animal-assisted therapy animal rights protection but the question of the possible contribution of this phenomenon to the development of humane treatment of people is still open. Is it possible to expect that attachment to a pet has a humanizing effect or does retain its specificity without being related to the pet owners’ pro-social attitudes – this research question reflects the main problem of the study. Study design. The study has correlational design; data was collected online using the 1ka.si service.Participants. The study sample consisted of 284 respondents (224 women, 60 men, aged 18-76, Mage = 25,4, SDage = 9,7, mostly owners of cats and dogs, mostly Russian citizens). Measurements. Validated Russian versions of the questionnaires were used, i.e., the Lexington attachment to pets scale (modified 8-item version prepared in this study), the 30-item Moral motives scale, the 14-item Environmental identity scale, and the 7-item Ecological lifestyle scale. Results. It has been found that different aspects of attachment to a pet are indeed associated with environmental identity, moral motives (with the exception of self-restraint), and social eco-activism. It is also shown that two aspects of attachment to pets (pet rights and the experience of happiness from communicating with a pet) in different combinations predict the motives of not-harming, helping, social justice, and social eco-activism. Conclusions. Attachment to pets is positively related to the pro-social attitudes of the pet owners, mostly those reflected an active pet owners’ position, but is not connected with the self-restraint qualities.

Alexithymia is a trait involving deficits in emotion processing. As an important risk factor for a wide range of psychopathologies, its assessment is important in both research and clinical practice. Originally developed in English, the Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire-Short Form (PAQ-S) is a 6-item self-report measure of alexithymia, with its brevity designed to enable alexithymia assessments in a wide range of settings. In the present research, we aimed to introduce the first Russian version of the PAQ-S and examine its psychometric properties. Our sample consisted of 203 Russian-speaking adults aged 18–74 years, recruited from the general community in Russia. The PAQ-S’s factor structure was verified with confirmatory factor analysis. Convergent and divergent validity was assessed via relationships with psychopathology symptoms and well-being. Internal consistency reliability was evaluated. The Russian version of the PAQ-S demonstrated strong factorial validity, with support for the intended 1-factor structure as an overall marker of alexithymia. The PAQ-S total scale score showed good internal consistency reliability. As expected, its convergent and divergent validity was also supported. PAQ-S scores were significant predictors of higher ill-being (anxiety, depression, and stress) and lower well-being, thus demonstrating the high clinical relevance of the alexithymia construct as measured by the PAQ-S. There were no gender differences in PAQ-S scores, and alexithymia was higher in younger people and those with less education. Overall, the Russian PAQ-S therefore demonstrated strong psychometric properties as a brief and robust measure of overall alexithymia, performing similarly to other language versions.