Participants who were pet owners in childhood were not more likely to be strict vegetarians compared with those who did not own pets as kids.

However, the investigators found that, on those occasions when the study participants did consume meat, people who were attached to their pets in childhood tended to justify eating meat in a different way from people who were less attached. For example, the people who were attached to their pets to a greater extent than other pet owners were more likely to express their justification of eating meat in a more “look the other way” approach, as Rothgerber called it, preferring not to think about the origin of the meat on their plates that they still ate, just with more significant limitations than people who were less attached to their pets.

And the childhood pet owners who showed a lesser degree of attachment were more likely to justify eating meat in a direct, unapologetic way, for instance, by claiming that animals are inferior to humans and that humans are destined to eat meat, Rothgerber said.