Hello, I am a new psychology student and have a research paper due in 10 weeks. I think I want my topic to be, "The psychological benefits for children growing up with dogs." I'm not really sure where to start and was hoping someone could give me a point in the right direction. Thanks.

-- Melissa Dani Miller (dani_doyle@hotmail.com), June 20, 2002

Answers

Run the phrase "companion animals" through PsycInfo and on the internet. There's a lot of research on companion animals and the elderly as well as on animals which are used for hospital visitation etc. That will probably lead you to the more generic benefits of pets.

-- Hendrika Vande Kemp (hendrika@earthlink.net), June 20, 2002.

Check out the book, "Why the Wild Things Are," by Gail F. Melson. You can find out more on Amazon.com, and if you can't get the book in your library system, you can try browsing at a large bookstore (B&N, Borders, etc.), since this is a recent (2001)publication.

-- Andrew L Wetzel (awetzel@epals.com), June 25, 2002.