Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Difference Is In The Details: Attachment And Cross-Species Parenting In The United States And India, Shelly Volsche, Rijita Mukherjee, Madhavi Rangaswamy

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The purpose of the current research was to explore changes in Indian attitudes and practices with pet dogs and cats and compare them with responses from the United States. Pet parenting, defined as the investment of money, emotion, and time in companion animals, is a form of alloparental care (care given by someone other than the offspring’s biological parents). Pet parenting appears to emerge in cultures that (1) demonstrate high rates of urbanization, (2) have declining total fertility rates (average births per woman), and (3) support life orientations beyond reproduction (collectively called the second demographic transition). A total of 1,417 …