The Relationship between Bullying and Animal Cruelty Behaviours in Australian Adolescents

1
The Relationship between Bullying and Animal
Cruelty Behaviours in Australian Adolescents

• Nerida Robertson
• Eleonora Gullone

2
Clinical Similarities Between Animal Cruelty and
Bullying

• Two of the earliest symptoms of conduct disorder
  as defined by the DSM-IV-TR (American Psychiatric
  Association, 2000).
• First appear between 6.5 and 7 years of age, and
  when identified in early childhood, are valid
  indicators of childhood psychopathology (Frick et
  al., 1993).

3
Clinical similarities (cont.)

• A history of childhood animal cruelty has been
  associated with
• later delinquency and criminality (Arluke, Levin,
  Luke, Ascione, 1999 Henry, 2004),
• adult violence against humans (Merz-Perez, Heide,
  Silverman, 2001) and,
• antisocial personality disorder in adulthood
  Gleyzer, Felthouse, Holzer, 2002)

4
Clinical similarities (cont.)

• Likewise, childhood bullying behaviours have been
  linked to
• delinquency (Baldry Farrington, 2000 Rigby
  Cox, 1996 Viljoen, O'Neill, Sidhu, 2005),
• a greater risk of adult antisocial behaviour
  (Haynie et al., 2001 Salmon, James, Cassidy,
  Javaloyes, 2000)
• and poor academic, social, emotional, behavioural
  and relationship outcomes (Hanish Guerra, 2004
  Toblin, Schwartz, Hopmeyer Gorman,
  Abou-ezzeddine, 2005).

5
Conceptual Similarities Between Animal Cruelty
and Bullying

1. Definitions.
2. Common behaviours in childhood.
3. Predominantly observed in males.

6
1. Definitions

• ANIMAL CRUELTY socially unacceptable behaviour
  that intentionally causes pain, suffering or
  distress to and/or death of an animal (Ascione,
  1993, p.228).
• BULLYING involves a desire to hurt a power
  imbalance (typically) repetition an unjust
  use of power evident enjoyment by the aggressor
  and generally a sense of being oppressed on the
  part of the victim (Rigby, 2002, p.51).

7
1. Definitions (cont.)
Animal cruelty Bullying
Aggressive acts- intent to cause harm yes yes
Deliberate act yes yes
Repetition yes yes
Power imbalance yes yes
Victim animals humans
8
2. Common Behaviours in Adolescence

• Animal Cruelty
• Research has shown that between 17.6 and 20.5
  of undergraduate students have engaged in animal
  cruelty (Flynn, 2000 Miller Knutson, 1997).
• Up to 50 of adolescents aged 9-17 years have
  reported engaging in animal cruelty (Baldry,
  2003a)

9
2. Common Behaviours in Adolescence (cont.)

• Bullying
• Between 20 and 80 of youth admit to engaging in
  bullying other children
• (Baldry, 1998 Bosworth, Espelage, Simon,
  1999 Hanish Guerra, 2004 Salmon et al.,
  2000).

10
3. Predominantly Observed in Males

• Males have rates of animal cruelty behaviours
  that are four times higher than those of females
  (Flynn, 1999).
• Males are more likely than females to engage in
  bullying behaviours (Baldry, 1998 Bosworth et
  al., 1999 Smith Myron-Wilson, 1998 Veenstra
  et al., 2005).

11
Exposure to Violence and Childhood Animal Cruelty
and Bullying

• Children exposed to domestic violence are at
  least twice as likely to report engaging in
  animal abuse than children from non-violent
  backgrounds (Baldry, 2003a Currie, 2006).

12
Exposure to Violence (cont.)

• Children who have witnessed acts of animal
  cruelty, report significantly higher levels of
  engagement in animal cruelty, than their peers
  who have not witnessed animal cruelty (Thompson
  Gullone, in press)
• Children exposed to domestic violence are 1.8
  times more likely to engage in bullying
  behaviours than those who were not exposed
  (Baldry, 2003b)

13
Aims of the Research

• To investigate
• The relationship between animal cruelty
  behaviours in Australian adolescents and their
  concurrent bullying behaviours.
• Factors which may predict or mediate the
  relationship between animal cruelty and bullying
  behaviours.

14
Participants

• A sample of 241 (102 males 139 female) students
  from Melbourne metropolitan secondary schools.
• The sample consisted of adolescents aged between
  12 and 16 years of age.

15
Two Questionnaires

1. Physical and Emotional Tormenting Against Animals
   Scale (P.E.T.).
2. Peer Relations Questionnaire (PRQ).

16
P.E.T.

• Physical and Emotional Tormenting Against Animals
  Scale (P.E.T.) (Baldry, 2004). Measures two
  aspects of animal cruelty
• 5 direct abuse items measure frequency of
  direct abuse (i.e., hurting, tormenting,
  bothering, hitting, and/or being cruel to an
  animal).
• 4 indirect abuse items measure frequency of
  witnessing abuse inflicted by others on animals
  (father, mother, peers, or other adults).

17
PRQ

• Peer Relations Questionnaire (PRQ) (Rigby Slee,
  1993)
• 2 items (Section D) assessed incidents of being
  bullied, and frequency of being bullied.
• 2 items (Section F) assessed frequency of
  participation in bullying, either as part of a
  group or individually.

18
Prevalence Rates

• 22.8 reported having committed at least one type
  of animal abuse (i.e., being cruel to, hitting,
  tormenting, bothering, and/or hurting).
• 36.5 reported witnessing at least one act of
  animal cruelty perpetrated by another person.

19
Prevalence Rates (cont.)

• 17.8 of adolescent reported engaging in
  individual or group bullying.
• 47.7 reported being the victims of bullying.

20
Gender and Age

• Males scored significantly higher than females on
  animal cruelty.
• Older adolescents (14-16years) scored
  significantly higher than younger adolescents
  (12-13years) on animal cruelty.
• No significant age or gender effects were found
  for bullying, witnessing of animal cruelty, or
  victimisation.

21
Witnessing Animal Cruelty
Percentage of Adolescents Witnessing Animal Cruelty Perpetrated by Others Percentage of Adolescents Witnessing Animal Cruelty Perpetrated by Others Percentage of Adolescents Witnessing Animal Cruelty Perpetrated by Others Percentage of Adolescents Witnessing Animal Cruelty Perpetrated by Others Percentage of Adolescents Witnessing Animal Cruelty Perpetrated by Others
Relationship of Perpetrator Relationship of Perpetrator Relationship of Perpetrator Relationship of Perpetrator
Frequency Friend Adult Father Mother
Never 71.4 58.9 78.8 90.0
Hardly Ever 18.3 25.3 12.4 7.5
Sometimes 7.9 12.9 4.1 2.1
Often 1.2 1.2 2.5 0
Very Often 1.2 1.7 2.1 .4
22
Intercorrelations Between Variables
Variable Animal Cruelty Bullying Witnessing Victimisation
Age .17 -.01 .06 -.05
Animal Cruelty .22 .43 .18
Bullying .23 .21
Witnessg .28
p lt 0.01 level (two-tailed) p lt 0.01 level (two-tailed) p lt 0.01 level (two-tailed) p lt 0.01 level (two-tailed) p lt 0.01 level (two-tailed)
23
Predicting Bullying Group Membership
24
Possible Explanations of Findings

• When a child experiences home or school
  conditions
• where they feel victimised, disturbed or abused
• They may seek to gain control over a being (human
  or non-human) who is less powerful (Gullone et
  al., 2002).
• Their development of empathy may become disrupted
  resulting in lower than normative levels.
• Further, such experiences are likely to promote a
  callous disregard for the welfare of others
  (Ascione, 1999 Lahey, Waldman, McBurnett,
  1999 Thompson Gullone, 2003)

25

• A child who grows up in a home where violence
• to humans and/or animals is common
• May learn to generalise home violence to other
  areas of their lives including being cruel to
  animals and peers (Faver Strand, 2003 Flynn,
  2000 Pelcovitz, Kaplan, DeRosa, Mandel,
  Salzinger, 2000).
• This learned aggression may then play a causal
  role in the emergence of victimisation, whereby
  children who engage in such behaviours are at
  high risk for rejection by peers (Schwartz et
  al., 1999).
• Peer rejection leads to active victimisation,
  which in turn, exacerbates aggression (Hay et
  al., 2004).

26
Implications

• Professionals working with children should not
  take lightly any instances when children are
  observed to either harm animals or their peers,
  since each is an indicator that the other may be
  co-occurring.

27
Implications (cont.)

• Given the findings relating to victimisation and
  witnessing, it is likely that the aggressive
  childs environment may not be an optimally safe
  one.
• The relationship between animal cruelty and
  bullying suggests that intervention strategies
  that are successfully applied to one behaviour
  may be equally successfully applied to the other
  behaviours.

28
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