Childhood cruelty to animals: a tri-national study

Females who maltreat animals

Studies of animal maltreatment and of untoward or abnormal aggression predominantly involve male subjects, raising the question as to whether females who engage in such behaviors are like, or fundamentally different than, their male counterparts. Inquiry to address this issue could pertain to gender similarities and differences; moreover, it could provide greater understanding of the behavior itself, in this case, animal maltreatment. Of the various patterns of animal maltreatment in the literature, there are enough studies with gender addressed to allow some observations on two patterns: animal cruelty in childhood and animal hoarding. Animal cruelty among girls may be more common than is widely assumed, but substantial recurrent cruelty appears, as expected, to be more common among males and is consistent with conduct disorder occurring more frequently among boys. Females, especially older females who live alone, predominate among animal hoarders, whose psychology is altogether different from those who engage in antisocial cruelty. The potential significance of these observations is discussed within the contexts of developmental and gender psychology.

Testing the direct, indirect, and moderated effects of childhood animal cruelty on future aggressive and non-aggressive offending

The relationship between childhood cruelty toward animals and subsequent aggressive offending was explored in 1,336 (1,154 male, 182 female) participants from the 11-wave Pathways to Desistance study (Mulvey, 2013). Aggressive and income offending at Waves 1 through 10 were regressed onto a dichotomous measure of prior involvement in animal cruelty and four control variables (age, race, sex, early onset behavior problems) assessed at Wave 0 (baseline). Results indicated that childhood animal cruelty was equally predictive of aggressive and non-aggressive (income) offending, a finding inconsistent with the hypothesis that cruelty toward animals desensitizes a person to future interpersonal aggression or in some way prepares the individual for interpersonal violence toward humans. Whereas a significant sex by animal cruelty interaction was predicted, there was no evidence that sex or any of the other demographic variables included in this study (age, race) consistently moderated the animal cruelty-subsequent offending relationship. On the other hand, two cognitive-personality measures (interpersonal hostility, callousness/unemotionality) were found to successfully mediate the animal cruelty-subsequent offending relationship. Outcomes from this study imply that a causal nexus-partially or fully mediated by hostility, callousness/unemotionality, and other cognitive-personality variables-may exist between childhood animal cruelty and subsequent offending, although the effect is not specific to violence.

Childhood cruelty to animals in China: the relationship with psychological adjustment and family functioning

BACKGROUND

The current study broadened the general scope of research conducted on childhood cruelty to animals by examining the association between psychological adjustment, family functioning and animal cruelty in an Eastern context, China.

METHOD

The mothers and fathers of 729 children attending primary school in Chengdu, China participated in this study. Each parent completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, the Chinese Family Assessment Instrument, and the Children's Attitudes and Behaviours towards Animals questionnaire.

RESULTS

Findings from an actor partner interdependence model demonstrated that parents' ratings of family functioning and of their child's externalizing coping style predicted only modest amounts of variance in animal cruelty. In particular, parents' ratings of their child's externalizing coping style most consistently predicted animal cruelty. Family functioning, fathers' ratings in particular, played a minor role, more so for boys compared with girls.

CONCLUSION

This study provided the first insight into childhood animal cruelty in China, and suggests that further research may enhance our understanding of these phenomena.