Dečije preferiranje i ophođenje prema kućnim ljubimcima

Abstract

Pets contribute significantly to social, cognitive and emotional development of children. Taking into consideration the importance of pets in a child's life, this paper is focused on treating pets and children's pets preferences. The subjects were fourth-grade pupils in a primary school in Belgrade. We wanted to find out if children prefer pets and which ones, and then whether pupils differ in terms of gender and pet ownership regarding pet care and treating. Descriptive statistics have been applied, while t-test has been used as a technique. Results show that boys and girls are largely in the same position regarding pet ownership, and that pupils preferred mostly dogs as pets, which were followed by fish and cats. There is no statistically significant difference between boys and girls considering friendly pet treating. There is a statistically important difference between pupils who have pets and those who do not regarding friendly treating. It would be interesting to research why children prefer dogs, fish and cats to pets like hamsters, parrots etc. Further research can be focused on emotional attachment of pupils to pets.