Children's Drawings and Attachment to Pets

Abstract

To help confirm the concept that distances placed between the self and other figures in children's drawings represent emotional distances, 242 pet-owning and 35 nonpet-owning kindergarteners through eighth graders drew pictures of themselves, a pet, and/or a family member. Owners drew pets significantly closer than family-figures although the younger the child, the greater the distance between self and pet. Older children drew themselves holding pets significantly more often, but younger children placed the family-figure between the self and the pet significantly more often. There were no significant gender differences in self-figure/pet-figure distances, but cats, dogs, caged animals, and farm animals were placed significantly closer to self-figures than were fish. Over-all, owners were clearly emotionally closer to pets than to family members, but nonowners were as close emotionally to family members as were owners.