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The purpose of the current research was to translate the Family Bondedness Scale (FBS), a recently developed scale for measuring the extent to which pet owners are emotionally bonded with their pets in a manner commensurate with their emotional bondedness with human family members, into Spanish and test the measurement equivalence, or measurement invariance, of scores from the English and Spanish versions. This study was intended to address the need for Spanish versions of human-animal interaction (HAI) and human-animal bond (HAB) measures given the rapid increase in Latinx pet owning families in the United States. The FBS was first translated from English to Spanish using the back translation method. A measurement equivalence study was then conducted. A total of 732 responses on the FBS were obtained, 511 on the English version and 221 on the Spanish version. Readability analyses suggested both versions require a second grade reading level. Multi-Group Confirmatory Factor Analyses, with and without covariates, were used to test for three forms of measurement equivalence: configural, metric, and scalar. Results were consistent with full configural and full metric invariance, and with partial scalar invariance. The results suggested the item intercepts of seven FBS items were not the same for the two versions. Further analyses suggested the practical importance of the lack of full scalar invariance of these seven items was minimal. Results were also consistent with the equivalence of reliabilities of scores on the two versions. These findings support the use of the Spanish version of the FBS in HAI and HAB research. The results also have implications for future research on the Spanish version of the FBS.

Abstract The purpose of the current research was to translate the Family Bondedness Scale (FBS), a recently developed scale for measuring the extent to which pet owners are emotionally bonded with their pets in a manner commensurate with their emotional bondedness with human family members, into Spanish and test the measurement equivalence, or measurement invariance, of scores from the English and Spanish versions. This study was intended to address the need for Spanish versions of human-animal interaction (HAI) and human-animal bond (HAB) measures given the rapid increase in Latinx pet owning families in the United States. The FBS was first translated from English to Spanish using the back translation method. A measurement equivalence study was then conducted. A total of 732 responses on the FBS were obtained, 511 on the English version and 221 on the Spanish version. Readability analyses suggested both versions require a second grade reading level. Multi-Group Confirmatory Factor Analyses, with and without covariates, were used to test for three forms of measurement equivalence: configural, metric, and scalar. Results were consistent with full configural and full metric invariance, and with partial scalar invariance. The results suggested the item intercepts of seven FBS items were not the same for the two versions. Further analyses suggested the practical importance of the lack of full scalar invariance of these seven items was minimal. Results were also consistent with the equivalence of reliabilities of scores on the two versions. These findings support the use of the Spanish version of the FBS in HAI and HAB research. The results also have implications for future research on the Spanish version of the FBS.

About 38.4% of U.S. households include a dog, and 25.4% a cat, as pets, and a recent poll suggested over 90% of pet owners feel their companion animal is a family member. Numerous studies have suggested pet ownership has physical, mental, and social health benefits, though much of this research has yielded mixed results. Results of a recent review suggested significant measurement problems in human-animal interaction (HAI) and human-animal bond (HAB) research, including the absence of validity evidence, overly long measures, lack of evidence for measurement equivalence across species of pets, and measures lacking a basis in important psychological, family, and attachment theories. This article describes the development and results of a measurement equivalence study of a new measure of the HAB called the family bondedness scale (FBS). This scale, and the research results, address multiple gaps in HAB measurement. Results of multi-group confirmatory factor analyses with multiple covariates indicated the scores on the FBS showed equivalence between cat and dog owners. The use of the FBS in both veterinary research and practice, as well as in research and practice in other disciplines, such as social work and psychology, are considered.