Abstract:
The purpose of the present study is to find out the difference of empathy levels between pet owners who have owned pets in their formative years (i.e. 5-15 years) and non-pet owners. Purposive sampling has been used in order to select the individuals. The sample consists of 40 individuals divided into two groups, the pet owners and the non pet owners. Each group consists of 10 males and 10 females. The mean age of the individuals is 30 years. Multidimensional Emotional Empathy Scale (Caruso & Mayer, 1998) has been used in order to assess the scores of empathy. For the statistical analysis of data, t-test was applied. The results showed significant difference between the levels of empathy of the pet owners and non pet owners at p=0.0004level. Pet owners have higher levels of empathy as compared to non pet owners.