If you are a single woman with more than zero cats, then you have been the brunt of cat lady jokes. While you may not feed a neighborhood of stinky cats (what are they feeding you?), it turns out that there is a "cat lady" type - and it isn't Type A.
If you've heard the term "helicopter parenting," you understand the way some parents can interfere with their children's decision-making and create a barrier to their independence. Helicopter parents (read: neurotic parents) make the best pet owners, according to the U.K.'s Daily Mail. Since pets require lifelong parenting, it seems to make sense.
A recent study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, published in the Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, found that while neurotic people make the best pet owners ,"cat people" are more apt to be anxious, creative and adventurous and "dog people" are more extroverted, secure and not as into adventures.
The study included online surveys from 1,000 pet owners who each identified themselves as either a "dog person," a "cat person" or neither. Those who expressed the most love and care for their pets were those who shared traits with overbearing parents.
"The fact that higher levels of neuroticism are associated with affection and anxious attachment suggests that people who score higher on that dimension may have high levels of affection and dependence on their pets, which may be a good thing for pets," said Mikel Delgado, a doctoral student in psychology and co-author of the study, according to the Daily Mail.
This is the first study to focus on the correlation between personality ("cat person" versus "dog person") and human attachment theory. California State University East Bay psychologist Gretchen Reevy, a co-author of the paper, said it is also the first study to look at "neuroticism, anxious attachment and the care of and affection for pets" in a positive light.
Even though those who needed returned affection were those who favored cats, all pet owners scored "needy," probably because they spend a lot of time with their pets, the Daily Mail reported.
"We will investigate further whether greater affection for and greater anxious attachment to one's pet, and neuroticism, are associated with better care and understanding of the pet's needs," Reevy said.
