Introduction: Children exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV) are at increased risk for concomitant exposure to maltreatment of companion animals. There is emerging evidence that childhood exposure to maltreatment of companion animals is associated with psychopathology in childhood and adulthood. However, few studies have explored developmental factors that might help to explain pathways from animal maltreatment (AM) exposure to children’s maladjustment. The present study addresses this gap in the literature by examining relations between children’s exposure to animal maltreatment, callous/unemotional (CU) traits, and externalizing and internalizing behavior problems.
Method: A sample of 291 children (77.9% ethnic minority; 47% female) between the ages of 7 and 12 was recruited from community-based IPV services. Multivariate regression models were used to examine the effect of exposure to AM on child behavior problems, over and above child and maternal reports of IPV and demographic variables. Next, a mediation model was used to test the role of CU traits in mediating the path from AM exposure to internalizing and externalizing problems. The model estimated the magnitude of the mediation paths using a bootstrapping technique to construct a 95% confidence interval for estimates of indirect effects with 2,000 bootstrap draws.
Results: Approximately 26% of the children were exposed to AM. Controlling for the effects of other variables, exposure to AM was the strongest predictor of children’s internalizing problems (β = .35). Exposure to AM was also associated with higher externalizing symptomatology (β = .18), albeit to a lesser extent than internalizing symptomatology (ΔΧ2[1] = 7.91, p < .01). The meditational path model indicated that child exposure to AM was associated with callousness (β = .14), which in turn was associated with greater internalizing (β = .32) and externalizing problems (β = .47). The effect of AM exposure on externalizing problems was completely mediated through callousness.
Conclusion: Results suggest that CU traits are a potential mechanism through which childhood exposure to AM influences subsequent behavior problems. Future research is needed to evaluate the extent to which exposure to AM affects children’s adjustment over time in the context of other co-occurring adverse childhood experiences.