@article {bnh-3343, title = {Developing a scale to understand willingness to sacrifice personal safety for companion animals: The Pet-Owner Risk Propensity Scale (PORPS)}, journal = {International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction}, volume = {21}, year = {2017}, month = {03/2017}, pages = {205-212}, chapter = {205}, abstract = {

Multiple factors motivate people to risk their safety for companion animals during disasters. Often, this entails people re-entering dangerous areas, delaying evacuation, and risking personal harm to protect animals. Importantly, the intensity of this behaviour varies between individuals, with the capacity to take risk-mitigating actions also limited by self-efficacy when managing companion animals under threatening conditions. As these two factors have received little attention, this study presents the construction, through principal components analysis, of a stable 24-item multidimensional scale measuring the potential intensity and perceived efficacy of pet-directed actions during disasters: the Pet-Owner Risk Propensity Scale. The initial 64-item pool derived from first-person bushfire accounts of Australian companion-animal owners. Items were then administered to Australian companion-animal owners living in disaster-susceptible locations (n=553). Preliminary findings support its validity, reliability, and utility in understanding companion-animal owners{\textquoteright} risk-taking propensity, which may help predict and avoid harmful outcomes for people and their animals during disasters, both in Australia and elsewhere.

}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2016.12.004}, url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212420916305714}, author = {Trigg, Josh and Bradley P Smith and Bennett, Pauleen and Kirrilly Thompson} } @article {bnh-3435, title = {An animal just like me: the importance of preserving the identities of companion-animal owners in disaster contexts}, journal = {Social and Personality Psychology Compass}, volume = {10}, year = {2016}, month = {01/2016}, pages = {26-40}, chapter = {26}, abstract = {

The widespread tendency of modern-day pet owners to self-identify with their companion animals psychologically, symbolically and relationally demonstrates how the constructed identities of animal and owner are strongly linked. This becomes particularly apparent during natural disasters. In this review, the new concept of the\ pet-owning self\ is discussed in relation to three self-psychology perspectives: self-extension, symbolic interactionism and selfobject relations. We purposefully depart from the realm of attachment theory to argue that these three epistemological approaches to self-identity, although related, warrant closer examination. Although we discuss them in relation to disaster contexts, the concept of the pet-owning self remains widely applicable. We argue for the importance of acknowledging the powerful intersubjectivity inherent to pet keeping, the inseparability of perceived pet identity from owners{\textquoteright} experiences of the self and that preserving the cohesion of the two is an essential consideration for owners{\textquoteright} psychological wellbeing when managing the integrated pet/owner in the face of risks posed by disaster and other hazards. Future research opportunities and implications are then discussed in the context of social identity theory.

}, doi = {10.1111/spc3.12233}, url = {http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/spc3.12233/full}, author = {Trigg, Josh and Kirrilly Thompson and Bradley P Smith and Bennett, Pauleen} } @article {bnh-5082, title = {A moveable beast: subjective influence of human-animal relationships on risk perception and risk behaviour during bushfire threat}, journal = {The Qualitative Report}, volume = {21}, year = {2016}, month = {10/2016}, pages = {1881-1903}, chapter = {1881}, abstract = {

This article examines how human-animal connections influence risk perception and behaviour in companion animal guardians exposed to bushfire threat in Australia. Although the objective role of psychological bonds with companion animals is well accepted by researchers, subjective interpretations of these bonds by animal guardians are relatively underexamined in this context. We argue that the ways in which connections with pets and other animals are represented influences different forms of safety-risk perception and behaviour when managing animals{\textquoteright} safety in the face of disaster threat. Thematic analysis of 21 semi-structured interviews with South Australian residents in bushfire-affected areas supported the role of the human-animal bond in shaping risk perception, and influencing engagement in risk-behaviour. Influential factors included animals{\textquoteright} {\textquotedblleft}life value,{\textquotedblright} {\textquotedblleft}relative versus absolute{\textquotedblright} risk framing, the {\textquotedblleft}constellation of bonds,{\textquotedblright} and {\textquotedblleft}action paralysis{\textquotedblright} when facing threat. Implications for future research in decision-making and risk propensities of animal guardians facing disaster threat alongside their pets are then discussed.

}, url = {https://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol21/iss10/9}, author = {Trigg, Josh and Kirrilly Thompson and Bradley P Smith and Bennett, Pauleen} }