Psychology of childhood animal harm: risk factors, pet relationships, and novel intervention evaluation

Abstract

Research consistently demonstrates that animal harm is associated with a range of serious psychosocial issues. Despite the importance of early identification and intervention, little research has been carried out directly with children, and evidence on how to effectively intervene to prevent continuing cycles of harm is lacking. This thesis aims to fill this gap. It adopts a child-centred approach to understand the psychological risk factors for animal harm and evaluates Animal Guardians, a novel educational intervention delivered by the Scottish Society for Prevention of Cruelty against Animals (SPCA) for high-risk children.

The first study is a meta-narrative systematic review of research carried out between 2010-2020 on childhood animal cruelty (CAC). This study reviews 69 publications, including theoretical and empirical research in criminology, social work, and psychology. A range of themes emerge across the literature. Environmental risk factors include exposure to childhood adversity, experiences of violence, and witnessing animal cruelty. Psychological risk factors include externalizing disorders, low empathy, low self-esteem, poor family functioning, and being accepting of cruelty. Results also suggest that CAC which is recurrent or extreme links to later interpersonal violence, and that many psychosocial barriers exist in measuring and reporting CAC. The review also highlights issues regarding inconsistent operationalization and discusses issues with definitions which are often disconnected from animal welfare legislation and child development.

The second study takes a qualitative approach, interviewing ten children referred to the Animal Guardians programme (average age= 8.8 years, n=9 males). It uses a variety of child-friendly techniques including crafts, vignettes, open questions, and standardized measures. Interviews were analyzed using content analysis to answer specific questions and interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to extract overarching themes. Content analysis suggested that referred children (a) tended to have small attachment networks which often included pets, (b) tended to interpret ambiguous situations predominately negatively, (c) tended to like animals and see them as sentient, and (d) struggled admitting to cruelty. Three main superordinate themes emerged from the IPA: (a) Bonding to animals, (b) Exposure to/normalization of violence, and (c) Signs of emotional issues/trauma. Together, these results suggest that children who were referred for animal cruelty toward their pets came from vulnerable backgrounds, had complex circumstances surrounding their at-risk or cruel behaviour, and sometimes had trouble regulating their emotions and behaviours.

The third study takes a quantitative approach to understanding the psychological risk factors for childhood animal harm by comparing nine children referred to the Animal Guardians programme to 18 classmate controls. A range of parametric and non-parametric tests of difference were used to analyse differences on a range of novel and established psychological measures. Children at high-risk of animal harm were more likely to be insecurely attached, scored significantly higher on Strengths and Difficulties and Callous Unemotional traits as rated by their teachers, scored lower on cognitive empathy, and performed more poorly on an executive functioning task. No significant differences were found between high-risk and low-risk children on self-reported empathy or emotion recognition. Drawings indicated secure children tended to feel closer to mothers and siblings, while pets’ proximity did not vary according to attachment strategy. Although insecure children scored lower on mentalising about pets, caregiving behaviour towards pets, and parental help in resolving conflict with pets, both groups similarly used pets as sources of comfort. Thus, although insecure attachment was an important risk factor for harming animals, secure and insecure children had similar capacity for bonding with their pets.

The fourth study is an evaluation of Animal Guardians, using a matched-control sample of 48 children (24 referred to AG and 24 controls) who completed a pre- and post-test activity pack measuring targeted constructs. Mixed ANOVAs showed that children receiving the AG program improved significantly more than controls on welfare knowledge, behaviour towards animals, cognitive and behavioural empathy. Furthermore, post-hoc tests showed that referred children improved significantly on belief in animal minds and affective empathy. The intervention was equally effective for girls and boys, and independent of harm-severity at referral. Younger children had a marginally greater improvement than older children, and post-hoc tests showed this was because they started with lower levels of welfare knowledge. These results show that AG is an effective program and suggests that educational interventions can be a positive way of reducing risk of animal harm.

This thesis provides an in-depth and child-centred exploration of the risk factors for childhood animal harm and provides the first evaluation of an intervention targeting this behaviour. The effectiveness of the Animal Guardians programme is promising and suggests that early educational intervention is feasible. Implications for animal welfare, clinical practice, and intervention development are also discussed.