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Journal of European Psychology Students, Vol. 3, 2012 19 Table 1 Statistics and differences by demographic variables between pet owners on the OPRS questionnaire Demographic variables N M SD Mann- Whitney U Z Cohen‟s d Owners‟ gender Male 35 41.34 6.825 3846.5 *** -3.253 *** 0.62 Female 330 45.45 6.505 Length of ownership < 3 years 167 45.94 6.350 14228.5 * -2.297 * 0.25 > 3 years 198 44.31 6.790 Location of living Countryside 175 45.92 6.920 14415.5 * -2.197 * 0.15 Town 190 44.92 6.270 Chosen pet Dog 268 46.20 6.134 8524.0 *** -5.030 *** 0.65 Cat 97 41.90 6.980 Pedigree With 157 47.04 5.870 11654.5 *** -4.666 *** 0.52 Without 209 43.57 6.870 Note. * p < .05. ** p < .01. *** p <.001 deviations from the normal distribution on all measures (see Appendix, Table 4). Results The analysis of the results on the OPRS revealed that participants differ on test results by demographic variables. OPRS mean values are significantly higher for female compared to male owners (d=0.62). Also, owners who had owned their pet for more than three years have higher OPRS mean values compared to those whose ownership lasted for less than three years (d=0.25) and owners living in a town have lower scores compared to owners living in the countryside (d=0.15), although the difference in means is small. Also, dog owners are more attached to their pets than cat owners according to OPRS results. Participants who own pedigree pets are more attached to their companion animal than owners of pets without pedigrees. Further analyses show that owners of a pedigree dog are more attached to their pet than those with a non-pedigree dog (Mann-Whitney U: z=- 3.132; p=.001). For cat owners, pedigree does not play an important role in the strength of attachment (Mann-Whitney U: z=-1.622; p=.105). Nevertheless, the participants with non-pedigree dogs are significantly more attached to their pet than cat owners, regardless of pedigree (Table 2). Table 2 Participants' OPRS statistics based on pet species choice and pet pedigree Pet Pedigree N M SD Dog With 143 47.25 5.680 Without 125 44.99 6.429 Cat With 13 44.69 6.343 Without 84 41.46 7.009 Both With 156 47.00 5.760 Without 209 43.57 6.874