Perceptions of the Relationship Between Animal Abuse and Violence Against Humans

Abstract

Although public awareness of animal abuse in society is significantly higher today than in the past, there is still considerable room for improvement in this area. Violence against animals and violence against humans are often viewed separately; however, numerous studies have identified a link between these two forms of violence. The pilot study aims is to gain insight into the perception of the relationship between animal abuse and violence against humans, in order to determine whether, and which, forms of animal abuse are perceived by respondents as predictors of violence against humans. This paper presents a study on the perceptions of students in Croatia regarding the relationship between animal abuse and violence against humans. The research sample consisted of 47 students, and the data were collected through an online survey using a questionnaire specifically designed for this purpose. Spearman’s rank-order correlation was used to examine the relationships between variables as a non-parametric method of bivariate analysis. Multiple linear regression analysis was employed to assess the predictive role of different forms of animal abuse. The results of the bivariate analysis showed a statistically significant positive association between respondents’ perceptions of specific forms of animal abuse and violence that could subsequently be directed toward humans. This statistically significant positive association was particularly evident for forms of violence such as animal abandonment, sexual abuse, killing, and physical abuse.The results of the regression analysis indicated that animal abandonment was the only statistically significant predictor of the perception of violence against humans. This finding suggests that the predictive value of specific forms of violence is not based solely on their level of severity, but also on their structural and contextual characteristics.