Table of Contents

Contents Pet/Human Bonding: Applications, Conceptual, and Research Issues

• Pets as Family Members
• The Social Meanings of Pets: Alternative Roles for Companion Animals
• Initiation and Maintenance of the Human-Animal Bond: Familial Roles From a Learning Perspective
• The Companion Animal in the Context of the Family System
• Pets and the Socialization of Children
• The Preadolescent/Pet Bond and Psychosocial Development
• Pets, Early Adolescents, and Families
• Pets and Family Relationships Among Nursing Home Residents
• The Death of a Pet: Human Responses to the Breaking of the Bond
• The Effects on Family Members and Functioning After the Death of a Pet
• Health, Aquariums, and the Non-Institutionalized Elderly
• Life in the Treehouse: Pet Therapy as Family Metaphor and Self-Dialogue
• Health Benefits of Pets for Families
• The Pet in the Military Family at Transfer Time: It Is No Small Matter
• A Historical, Interdisciplinary Analysis of the Animal and Human Social Ecosystem