Animal abuse among preadolescents directly and indirectly victimized at school and at home

Anna Costanza Baldry

98 citations0/0 files storedCriminal Behaviour and Mental Health

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Child Abuse and Trauma Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression Animal Law and Welfare

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Animal abuse by preadolescents has been associated with their later family violence and/or criminal behaviour; less is known about animal abuse and concurrent experience of being a victim at home and/or school, or of contemporaneous aggression to peers. AIMS: To establish the prevalence of animal abuse among Italian preadolescents and its relationship with experience of abuse at home and school (direct and witnessed), and to peer abuse (bullying). METHOD: An Italian community sample of 268 girls and 264 boys (aged 9-12) completed a self-reported questionnaire about victimization at home and school, animal abuse and bullying. RESULTS: Two in five preadolescents admitted abusing animals at least once in their life, and one in three bullying peers at school, with a higher prevalence among boys. Over three-quarters of all participants reported at least one type of victim experience: one-third had experienced inter-parental violence; over one-third had themselves been abused by one or both parents; two in five had been directly or indirectly victimized at school. Individual tests of association suggested gender differences. Multivariate regression analyses conducted separately for boys and girls showed that the independent variable accounted for more than 25% of the variance for the girls, but less than 10% for the boys. Experiences of abuse were the key independent variables for the girls; other expressions of aggression were the key variables for the boys. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that discovery of animal abuse should prompt further enquiries about other problems that a child may have. Detection of animal abuse by a child could offer an early opportunity for intervention to alleviate internalized damage or other aggressive behaviour.

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References

2013Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 2013Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 1979Measuring Intrafamily Conflict and Violence: The Conflict Tactics (CT) Scales 1994Bullying at school: what we know and what we can do 1989The Cycle of Violence 2014The Nature of School Bullying 2006Journal of Community Psychology 2003Bullying in schools and exposure to domestic violence

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2007Bullying and Animal Abuse: Is There a Connection?2016Development of the Partner’s Treatment of Animals Scale 2013Children in Distress: Functioning of Youngsters of Abused Women and Implications for Child Maltreatment Prevention 2022The Link between Family Violence and Animal Cruelty: A Scoping Review 2020THE LINK BETWEEN INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE AND ANIMAL ABUSE 2016Does Witnessing Animal Cruelty and Being Abused During Childhood Predict the Initial Age and Recurrence of Committing Childhood Animal Cruelty?

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