Phd in DYNAMIC AND CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY

Thesis title: Dalla culla alla sella: un’analisi delle dimensioni d’attaccamento nelle relazioni con gli animali

A considerable part of the literature has investigated the nature of the bonds that individuals establish with nonhuman beings. Several studies have evaluated the benefits that women and men seem to derive from interactions with different animal species, highlighting how this can contribute to increasing their quality of life. However, the processes underlying this effect are still not fully understood. Some authors have suggested that a more in-depth study of the human-animal relationship, using the “Attachment Theory” as a lens through which to observe its specific peculiarities, could provide useful insights to fill this gap. Therefore, this thesis was motivated by the desire to explore the mechanisms behind the establishment of this particular bond, highlighting the similarities and differences with respect to the meaningful relationships we usually establish with other individuals. In the first chapter, the key concepts of "Attachment Theory" are recalled, in order to delineate the boundaries of the theoretical framework through which it was chosen to explore the nature of human-animal bonds. In the second chapter, a systematic literature review and meta-analytic study are presented, in which evidence from previous research comparing the quality of interpersonal attachment bonds with the quality of bonds with animals was collected. Specifically, the purpose of the study was to assess levels of anxiety and avoidance in interpersonal and animal bonds, with the aim of measuring their associations and differences. This work complies with the PRISMA guidelines and was pre-registered on PROSPERO. The literature search was conducted by consulting the PubMed, PsychInfo and PsycArticles databases using the following combined keywords: attachment or attachment theory and pets or animals and a human-animal relationship. Six manuscripts met the inclusion criteria for the systematic review, and four for the meta-analysis. The results of the systematic review showed that between the two relational domains (interpersonal and with animals), there was a clear positive association for the anxiety dimension and a more marginal positive association for the avoidance dimension. In addition, the results of the meta-analyses showed that the levels of anxiety and avoidance in animal bonds were lower than those in interpersonal bonds. These results are discussed and interpreted in light of the current knowledge on the topic, highlighting the strengths, limitations, and repercussions they might have in the clinical and applicative spheres. In the third chapter, an empirical cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate the dimensions of insecure attachment (anxiety and avoidance) in the relational domain of bonding with the horse and compared with those in the interpersonal relational domains (bonds with family, friends, and romantic partners). This work is among the first to relate the nature of the bond established between horses and riders to other significant interpersonal bonds, assessing their quality in terms of anxiety and avoidance. In this regard, 403 horse riders (375 women and 28 men) voluntarily participated in the study. To measure and compare anxiety and avoidance levels in the four relational domains, four version of the Adult Attachment Questionnaire (AAQ) were administered through an online survey, each corresponding to a specific relational domain (family, friendship, partner and horse). By conducting a confirmatory analysis (CFA), the associations of the horse bonding domain and the other interpersonal domains with the latent factors corresponding to the anxiety and avoidance dimensions were explored. In addition, dependent samples t-tests were conducted to assess the differences of the interpersonal relationship domains with the horse bonding domain. The CFA conducted showed that the horse bonding domain was positively associated with the latent factor of anxiety in a similar degree to the other interpersonal domains. With regard to the avoidance dimension, the association between the horse bonding domain and the latent factor was less consistent than for the interpersonal domains. Furthermore, lower levels of anxiety but particularly of avoidance were found in the horse relationship than in the interpersonal domains. The results that emerged in this preliminary study were discussed considering the peculiarities that characterise the way in which the horse and rider interact and underlining the important differences that exist with other significant relationships. These present findings suggest that the hyperactivation strategies that underpin the anxiety dimension could also be applied to the relationship with the horse, as opposed to avoidant strategies that seem to be adopted to a lesser extent.