Attachment as the Catalyst for the Attribution of Complex Cognition and Emotion to Companion Cats.

Companion cat caregivers ascribe complex emotions and cognitions to their cats, and these attributions are greater with a stronger attachment to their animals. We compared attributions of emotional and cognitive complexity to cats in cat caregivers and non-caregivers. We measured attitudes toward animals, belief in animal minds, caregivers' strength of attachment, and attachment style with a particular companion cat in 448 university students, of whom 251 had owned a cat.

Owner's Anthropomorphic Perceptions of Cats' and Dogs' Abilities Are Related to the Social Role of Pets, Owners' Relationship Behaviors, and Social Support.

Background: For sustainable and healthy relationships with pets, attributing some degree of human abilities to the pet (anthropomorphization) might be necessary. We hypothesize that the tendency to anthropomorphize pet animals is related to relationship behaviors (communication and making up) and the experience of social support. Perceiving the pet in a human social role (e.

Family Member, Best Friend, Child or 'Just' a Pet, Owners' Relationship Perceptions and Consequences for Their Cats.

Describing the relationship with one's cat in human terms might reflect an underlying anthropomorphic view of the relationship which might be associated with an owner's behavior towards their cat and the cat's living environment. Owners self-categorized the relationship with their cat as either a 'member of the family', 'as a child', 'best friend', or 'a pet animal'. The extent to which owner- and cat-related factors influence these four relationship descriptions are examined in survey data of approximately 1800 cat owners.

Expectations versus Reality: Long-Term Research on the Dog-Owner Relationship.

In the framework of the early prevention of problems in the owner-dog relationship, it is important to have a broad perspective on the development of this relationship over time, starting before people actually acquire a dog. People who currently (or previously) own(ed) a dog can rely on their experiences when considering a new dog, while this knowledge is unavailable to first time dog-owners. In this study, we explore how self-efficacy, social comparison, perceptions about the (dis)advantages of ownership and commitment to the dog (so-called social cognitive factors), problematic canine behaviors, perceived costs, and satisfaction with the dog change over time.

Chronicity of depressive problems and the cortisol response to psychosocial stress in adolescents: the TRAILS study.

Clinical and epidemiological studies, further supported by meta-analytic studies, indicate a possible association between chronicity (i.e., persistence or recurrence) of depression and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis responsiveness to psychosocial stress.

Stressed out? Associations between perceived and physiological stress responses in adolescents: the TRAILS study.

Studies regarding the interrelation of perceived and physiological stress indices have shown diverging results. Using a population sample of adolescents (N=715, 50.9% girls, mean age 16.

Self-assessed parental depressive problems are associated with blunted cortisol responses to a social stress test in daughters. The TRAILS Study.

Depression runs in families and is considered a stress-related disorder. Familial risk for depression may be transmitted via deregulated psychophysiological stress responses from parent to child. In this study, we examined the association between self-assessed lifetime parental depressive problems (PDP) and adolescent offspring' cortisol responses to a social stress test.

Sensitivity to the depressogenic effect of stress and HPA-axis reactivity in adolescence: a review of gender differences.

Adolescence is characterized by major biological, psychological, and social challenges, as well as by an increase in depression rates. This review focuses on the association between stressful experiences and depression in adolescence, and the possible role of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal cortex (HPA-)axis in this link. Adolescent girls have a higher probability to develop depressive symptoms than adolescent boys and preadolescents.

No associations between single nucleotide polymorphisms in corticoid receptor genes and heart rate and cortisol responses to a standardized social stress test in adolescents: the TRAILS study.

Previously, sequence variation in the glucocorticoid (GR) and mineralocorticoid (MR) receptor genes (NR3C1 and NR3C2, respectively) have been found to be associated with physiological stress responses to social stress tests in small samples of adult men and oral contraceptives (OC) using women. Associations between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the GR (23EK-rs6190, 9beta-rs6198, BclI-rs4142324) and the MR gene (I180V-rs5522 and -2G/C (rs2070951) with cortisol and heart rate responses to a performance-related social stress task (public speaking and mental arithmetic) were examined in a large sample (n = 553) of adolescents (15-17 years). To make comparisons with previous findings, associations were tested in boys (n = 277), free-cycling (FC) girls (n = 183) and OC users (n = 93).

Interaction between childhood adversity, brain-derived neurotrophic factor val/met and serotonin transporter promoter polymorphism on depression: the TRAILS study.

Background: The three-way interaction between the functional polymorphism in the serotonin transporter gene linked promoter region, the val66met polymorphism in the brain-derived neurotrophic factor gene, and childhood adversity in the prediction of depression in children, reported by Kaufman and colleagues in 2006, has only been confirmed in adult samples. This study examines the gene-by-gene-by-environment interaction in an adolescent sample.

Methods: In a longitudinal population-based study, depression scores were assessed with the Youth Self Report at ages 11, 13.

Adolescents' cortisol responses to awakening and social stress; effects of gender, menstrual phase and oral contraceptives. The TRAILS study.

Studies on the influence of sex hormones on cortisol responses to awakening and stress have mainly been conducted in adults, while reports on adolescents are scarce. We studied the effects of gender, menstrual cycle phase and oral contraceptive (OC) use on cortisol responses in a large sample of adolescents. Data come from TRAILS (TRacking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey), a prospective population study of Dutch adolescents.

Psychophysiological assessment of sexual function in women after radiotherapy and total mesorectal excision for rectal cancer: a pilot study on four patients.

Introduction: The potential contribution of psychological and anatomical changes to sexual dysfunction in female patients following short-term preoperative radiotherapy (5 x 5 Gy) and total mesorectal excision (TME) is not clear. Aim. In this study we assessed female sexual dysfunction in patients who underwent radiotherapy and TME for rectal cancer.

Stressful life events and depressive problems in early adolescent boys and girls: the influence of parental depression, temperament and family environment.

Background: Stressful life events increase the probability of depressive problems in early adolescence. Several genetic and environmental risk factors may change individual sensitivity to the depressogenic effect of these events. We examined modification by parental depression and gender, and mediation of the former by temperament and family environment.