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Battered Women's Reports of Their Partners' and Their Children's Cruelty to Animals
Abstract
Anecdotal reports of cruelty to pet animals in families where partner battering occurs are common but there exist few empirical data on this issue. Determining the forms and prevalence of such cruelty is important since abuse of pets may be a method batterers use to control their partners, may be related to batterers' lethality, and may result in children in such families being exposed to multiple forms of violence, a significant risk for mental health problems. Thirty-eight women seeking shelter at a safe house for battered partners voluntarily completed surveys about pet ownership and violence to pets. of the women reporting current or past pet ownership, 71% reported that their partner had threatened and/or actually hurt or killed one or more of their pets. Actual (as distinct from threatened) harm to pets represented the majority (57%) of reports. Fifty-eight percent of the full sample of women had children and 32% of these women reported that one or more of their children had hurt or killed pet animals; in 71% of these cases, the women had also reported animal abuse (threatened or actual) by their partner. This study represents one of the first empirical analyses of the prevalence of animal maltreatment in a sample of battered women. The high prevalence rate of batterers' threatened or actual harm of animals and the relatively high rate of animal abuse reported for the children in this sample are relevant for future research and policy analyses.
... Most of the included studies (n = 25) used crosssectional questionnaire (quantitative) surveys while the remaining five were qualitative. Among the included studies, four assessed participants' descriptive self-reports on the issue of AA (Allen et al., 2006;Ascione, 1997;Flynn, 2000b;Loring & Bolden-Hines, 2004), seven showed bivariate association between IPV and AA (Cavazos & Faver, 2007;Febres et al., 2012;Haden et al., 2018;Levitt et al., 2016;Simmons & Lehmann, 2007;Strand & Faver, 2006;Tiplady et al., 2012), and 13 reported multivariate association between IPV and AA. Five studies analysed and reported qualitative findings (Collins et al., 2018;Flynn, 2000a;Hardesty et al., 2013;Newberry, 2017;Tiplady et al., 2018). ...
... Sample sizes across the individual studies ranged from 10 to 1283 (10 to 103 in qualitative and 23 to 1283 in quantitative studies). The mean age of the participants, among the studies which reported age, ranged from 30.2 (Ascione, 1997) to 43.0 (Tiplady et al., 2018) years. ...
... Fifteen studies used standard validated scales to assess AA, among which three studies (Ascione, 1997;Ascione et al., 2007;Loring & Bolden-Hines, 2004) used the Battered Partner Shelter Survey -Pet Maltreatment Assessment (BPSS) and two (Collins et al., 2018;Hartman et al., 2018) used the Pet Treatment Survey (PTS) which was a revised version of the BPSS. Three studies used the Aggression Toward Animals Scale (ATAS) (Febres et al., 2012;Febres et al., 2014;Gupta, 2008), while the other three used the domestic violence Pet Abuse Survey (PAS) (Cavazos & Faver, 2007;Faver & Strand, 2003;Strand & Faver, 2006). ...
This systematic review focused on animal cruelty in abusive adult intimate partner relationships with a specific focus on the prevalence, motivations, and impact of animal abuse on victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) and the pets involved. Peer-reviewed research articles were sourced from online databases PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus and PsycInfo in July 2020. Overall, 427 records were retrieved, of which 35 articles from 30 studies were included in this review. Relevant data were extracted, with results presented as a narrative summary. The findings showed that the prevalence of animal abuse is high in households with intimate partner violence (range: 21%–89%) and there is a significant relationship between intimate partner violence and animal abuse. Both are often perpetrated concurrently, with animal abuse used as a mechanism to control the partner and facilitate intimate partner violence. Animal abuse affected a victim's decision to leave the abusive relationship and seek support and had an ongoing psychological impact on both animal and human victims. The findings have practical implications for organizations, professionals and researchers working in the field of intimate partner violence and animal abuse.
... Es más, en las culturas en las que existe mucha crueldad hacia los animales, es más probable que las mujeres sufran violencia o sean asesinadas (Flynn, 2000). Además, la violencia contra los animales es un mecanismo común que emplean los maltratadores de mujeres en un acto flagrante de violencia psicológica (Adams, 2006, Ascione, 1998, Upadhaya 2014. Por estos motivos, es necesario conocer las conexiones entre la dominación de las mujeres y la crueldad contra los animales con el fin de lograr una educación igualitaria basada en la empatía, que rechace los valores androcéntricos y reivindique las virtudes de la Ética del cuidado. ...
... Recent research found that dog parks in urban areas promote social interactions between human guardians leading to increased neighborhood social cohesion. Increasing numbers of dogs in urban homes has raised the demand for, and number of, urban dog parks which provide benefits to both the dogs and humans: physical activity, socializing with neighbors, enjoyment of the outdoors, and increased feelings of personal safety in the park (Allen, 2007;Gómez, 2013;Gómez et al., 2018;Harnik & Bridges, 2006). Seeing other individuals walking dogs also increases perceptions that a particular neighborhood is safe (Wood et al., 2007). ...
... It should be underlined that direct abuse of companion animals is typically immersed in family dynamics (Jegatheesan et al., 2020). A considerable body of academic research on cross-species violence shows that such abuse is often linked with child and spouse abuse, and other forms of family violence (Boat, 1995;Ascione, 1998 ...
... Es más, en las culturas en las que existe mucha crueldad hacia los animales, es más probable que las mujeres sufran violencia o sean asesinadas (Flynn, 2000). Además, la violencia contra los animales es un mecanismo común que emplean los maltratadores de mujeres en un acto flagrante de violencia psicológica (Adams, 2006, Ascione, 1998, Upadhaya 2014. Por estos motivos, es necesario conocer las conexiones entre la dominación de las mujeres y la crueldad contra los animales con el fin de lograr una educación igualitaria basada en la empatía, que rechace los valores androcéntricos y reivindique las virtudes de la Ética del cuidado. ...
... Reports of animal abuse are more likely when women who are victims of intimate partner violence report a greater emotional attachment or closeness to the animal. 12,13 Considering that most victims of intimate partner violence are women, 8,[14][15][16] researchers have emphasized the intertwining of violence toward women, children, and animals. ...
OBJECTIVE
To determine the number and species of animals cared for by the PetSafe program at the Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine (a community service offered to meet the short-term housing needs of pets, especially pets owned by victims of intimate partner violence) from 2004 through 2019 and collect information on duration of stay, outcome, health problems, and expenses.
ANIMALS
229 animals cared for by the PetSafe program.
PROCEDURES
Medical records were reviewed for information on species, breed, age, duration of stay, outcome of stay, client referral source, whether the animal had been cared for previously, health problems, medical interventions, and expenses incurred.
RESULTS
There were 124 dogs, 95 cats, 6 ferrets, and 4 sugar gliders; 187 of the animals were returned to their owners, 37 were rehomed, and 5 were euthanized because of medical conditions. The most common health problems were dental disease and dermatological complaints (eg, flea infestation and resulting fleabite dermatitis). None of the animals had physical evidence of abuse. Mean duration of stay was 22 days (range, 1 to 93 days), and mean ± SD cost per animal was $368 ± $341.
CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Over the 16-year period of the study, the number and species of animals cared for by the PetSafe program at Purdue and the health problems encountered in those animals were relatively stable, and the program was able to meet the relatively predictable financial costs incurred through existing sources of funding.
... The risk of lethality to first responders doubles when domestic violence incidents are also marked by animal abuse (Campbell et al. 2018). • 32% of domestic violence survivors in shelters reported their children had also harmed animals, repeating the intergenerational cycle of violence (Ascione 1998). ...
To those who primarily associate the word “humane” with “humane society”, its connection to criminology might appear to be unrelated. The origins of “humane” and “humane society” are complex and primarily reflect an abiding interest in human and societal welfare rather than animal welfare. Consequently, the origins and evolution of the current American association of humane societies with animal protection—as contrasted to its British association with rescuing victims of drowning—remain shrouded in mystery. A new focus that returns to the original roots of “humane” describing the implications of animal cruelty, abuse, and neglect as cause for human and societal concern due to their potential as sentinel indicators and predictors of interpersonal violence, rather than a strict focus on animals’ welfare or their alleged “rights”, holds great promise for advancing legislation and community programming that improves the well-being of human and non-human animal species and the prevention of crime.
Animal cruelty has received growing scholarly attention over the past few decades. One ongoing challenge for researchers has been the lack of readily accessible data. This situation changed in 2014 with the addition of animal cruelty offenses to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program as part of its National Incident-Based Reporting System. In addition to providing a much-needed source of animal cruelty information, these data shed light on two distinct forms of cruelty: intentional animal abuse and neglect. Previous research tended to group both forms of cruelty together, which limited the ability of these findings to inform the development of targeted prevention and intervention policies. The present study is one of the first to examine the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s animal cruelty data and to distinguish between neglect and intentional cruelty. The findings obtained are discussed in terms of application to policy and guidance for future work.
This documentary qualitative research aims to inquire if scientific literature studies violence towards pets by attackers who previously exerted gender-based violence on their female masters, as a typology of chauvinist violence, and as such, as a factor to look for and assess. The results obtained from the analysis of the documentary corpus show such a connection actually exists, however it is not mentioned in most of practitioner’s instruments and protocols. The most significant finding from this study is a solid ground to include violence on pets as a social factor to be looked for and considered when studying chauvinist violence, and an invitation to reflect upon the need to adapt
protection resources for victims.
This article examines the difference between male and female reports of violence and threats of violence directed by the man towards the woman. All men in the study were clients in a large batterers' treatment program in the Midwest. Both men and their female partners completed a modified version of the Conflict Tactics Scale at intake and 1 year later at follow-up. In many categories, significantly more women were found at intake to report higher frequencies of threats and violence than their male partners. At follow-up and after extensive intervention these differences were not found in the more severe categories of violence. Differences remained, however, in the less concrete realm of threats of violence and in less severe forms of violence such as pushing and shoving.
The relation between childhood cruelty toward animals and interpersonal aggression has long been of interest to developmental psychology, psychiatry, and related disciplines but the empirical study of this relation is relatively recent. This review highlights existing quantitative and qualitative research on childhood animal cruelty, organized according to four areas: (1) the relation between childhood cruelty to animals and concurrent and later antisocial behavior; (2) the significance of cruelty to animals as a specific symptom in the DSM-III-R classification Conduct Disorder; (3) the implication of cruelty to animals in various forms of family and community violence, including child physical and sexual abuse and wife battering; and (4) suggestions for research in the areas of definition, prevention, and intervention.
We assessed the impact of a year-long, school-based humane education program on younger (first and second graders) and older (fourth and fifth graders) children's attitudes toward the treatment of animals. Generalization to human-directed empathy was also measured. Using a pretest-posttest design and ANCOVA, we found that the program enhanced the animal-related attitudes of children differentially, depending on grade level. For younger children, there was no significant difference between experimental (E) and control (C) group attitude means; however, qualitative analysis showed that greater enhancement of attitudes occurred for first grade E group children than for C group children at that grade level. No differences were present on the generalization measure of empathy. For older children, there was a significant difference between E and C group attitude means qualified by grade level—there was greater enhancement of humane attitudes for E group than for C group fourth graders but no difference for fifth graders. On the generalization measure of empathy, posttest means for the E group were significantly greater than means for the C group regardless of grade level. The results contribute to the growing literature on the relation between children and animals and serve to encourage and validate the efforts of humane educators to improve children's caring and kindness toward companion and noncompanion animals.
The Children's Depression Inventory, Child Behavior Checklist, and Youth Self-Report were completed by mothers, fathers, and their 8–12 yr old children to assess the effects of various types of domestic violence on children's behavior problems and depression. 110 Israeli children from lower-class families were identified through social service records. 33 of the children had been physically abused by their parents within the last 6 mo, 16 had witnessed spouse abuse, 30 had been both victims and witnesses of domestic violence, and 31 had experienced no known domestic violence. Overall, domestic violence had effects on child development that varied in magnitude and nature depending on the type of domestic violence and who reported the information about the child's adjustment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Preschool children (N = 107) were divided into 4 groups on the basis of maternal report; home and shelter groups exposed to verbal and physical conflict, a home group exposed to verbal conflict only, and a home control group. Parental ratings of behavior problems and competencies and children's self-report data were collected. Results show that verbal conflict only was associated with a moderate level of conduct problems: verbal plus physical conflict was associated with clinical levels of conduct problems and moderate levels of emotional problems; and verbal plus physical conflict plus shelter residence was associated with clinical levels of conduct problems, higher level of emotional problems, and lower levels of social functioning and perceived maternal acceptance. Findings suggests a direct relationship between the nature of the conflict and residence and type and extent of adjustment problems.
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The focus of the present study was twofold: (a) to examine the differences between children from maritally violent homes who witnessed marital violence and those who were both witnesses as well as victims of abuse; and (b) to determine the best predictors of child abuse among maritally violent families. Participants included 184 children, ages 7 to 13, and their mothers who were residing at battered women shelters. Compared to children who witnessed interparental violence, children who were both witnesses as well as victims of physical abuse scored significantly higher on externalizing behavior problems. A stepwise logistical regression analysis identified numerous predictors of child abuse among maritally violent families. These included a greater frequency and severity of marital violence, less marital satisfaction, and a poorer quality of father-child relationship as perceived by the children. In addition, children from families where child abuse occurred were more likely to exhibit aggressive behavior problems than children who only witnessed marital violence.
We compared parent-reported problems and competencies for national samples of 2,600 4- 16-year-olds assessed at intake into mental health services and 2,600 demographically matched nonreferred children assessed in a home interview survey. Parents responded to the ACQ Behavior Checklist, which includes 23 competence items, three competence scales, 216 problem items, eight syndrome scales, Internalizing, Externalizing, and total competence and problem scores. Most items and scales discriminated significantly (p
The purpose of the research described in this article was to assess the impact of spouse abuse upon children living within the home and witnessing the violence. The study sample was comprised of 258 cases. Findings indicated that abuser's age, use of alcohol, and childhood experiences were significant predictors of whether or not a said abuser would concurrently be a child abuser.
"No Safe Haven" provides a comprehensive . . . look at the pervasive nature of violence against women. It reviews current psychological research on the prevalence, causes, and effects of forms of violence against adult women and describes existing and recommended interventions, legal changes, and policy initiatives to address the problem.
[The book] focuses on 3 common types of abuse against adult women: physical assault by male partners, sexual harassment in work and educational settings, and rape and other forms of sexual violence. The final section of the book highlights the common themes that emerge from these 3 types of violence and presents recommendations for effective intervention, treatment, and public policy initiatives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)