Introduction: Children exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV) are more likely to be exposed to and perpetrate animal cruelty. Despite increased recognition that childhood animal cruelty (CAC) is a risk factor for subsequent interpersonal violence, there is a dearth of child-centered research examining motivations for CAC behaviors in the context of violent households. The current qualitative study reports on data from school-age children recruited from community-based IPV services who had a history of CAC.
Method: This study was part of a larger longitudinal study of women and their 7 to 12 year-old children’s experiences of IPV and concomitant animal abuse (N=291). Participants were recruited from one of 22 domestic violence service agencies in a western U.S. state. Qualitative data for the current analysis reflect 46 children (54% racial/ethnic minority). Children were asked to describe their CAC behaviors; maternal caregivers were interviewed separately about their child’s CAC, and these data were used to triangulate patterns in the data. Specifically, qualitative data were obtained as part of the semi-structured Children’s Observations and Experiences with their Pets survey (Ascione & Weber, 1995), which was facilitated as an interview by a trained domestic violence advocate. Using Atlas.ti software, qualitative data were analyzed thematically using the method of template analysis (Crabtree & Miller, 1999; King, 1998, 2012), an approach commonly employed in analyzing large qualitative data sets in social science research (Brooks & King, 2013).
Results: Thematic findings include: history of witnessing animal cruelty and pet neglect/abandonment; CAC with family members; minimization of animal harm; differences in CAC severity by victim type; animal sentience and anthropomorphic assumptions; punishing pets out of anger; and curiosity.
Discussion: Our study provides additional support for the link between IPV exposure, animal cruelty exposure, and CAC; therefore, assessing children to determine if they have witnessed animal maltreatment is an important part of the evaluation process for professionals who encounter children exposed to, or at risk for, experiencing family violence. In addition, determining a child’s attitudes and beliefs about animals early in the assessment process could assist professionals in identifying children at risk for, or currently engaging in, CAC.