Universality and culture-specificity of attachment to companion animals and its effects : Cross-national studies

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Previous research has shown that Japanese pet owners tend to have "dependent attachment." which is characterized by obsession to pets. In this study, I conducted two cross-national surveys in order to investigate whether the dependent attachment was a culturally-specific phenomenon that was unique to Japanese society, or a universal phenomenon that was also present among Western owners. The results showed that, although the magnitude was weaker than that of Japanese owners, dependent attachment did exist among American owners, and that it was associated with lower subjective well-being.