Dissertation Information for Suzanne R. Goodney-LeaNAME:
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SCHOOL: ADVISORS: COMMITTEE MEMBERS: MPACT Status: Incomplete - Not_Inspected Title: Guns, explosives, and puppy dog tails: The social function of animal cruelty Abstract: Though there exists a widespread belief in American society that children who engage in animal cruelty will go on to be violent toward other humans later in life, there is, in fact, little empirical research examining this presumed correlation. This dissertation examines diagnostic interview data reporting on childhood/adolescent and adult anti-social behavior for 570 individuals. Correlations between animal cruelty and other childhood/teenage anti-social behaviors are examined, as is the extent to which childhood/adolescent animal cruelty predicts adult violence. The results indicate that, during childhood/adolescence, animal cruelty is associated with both violent behavior such as bullying and hurting siblings but also with non-violent behavior such as shoplifting, vandalism, and fire setting. Men are much more likely than women to report having been cruel to animals during childhood/adolescence and to have engaged in a range of other childhood/teenage anti-social behaviors. Logistic regressions indicate that animal cruelty, when considered against a range of other anti-social childhood/teenage behaviors, shows no significant predictive power in discerning which individuals will go on to engage in human-directed violence as adults. |
MPACT Scores for Suzanne R. Goodney-LeaA = 0 Advisors and Advisees Graph |