Youthful animal abuse and later problem behavior outcomes: findings from two generations

Abstract

The objective of this study was to document the long-term relationship between youthful animal abuse and a variety of problem behavior outcomes later in life. Data were used from a national, longitudinal, and multigenerational sample collected by the National Youth Survey Family Study, which assessed families across 27 years from 1977 to 2004. The analytic sample consisted of 2538 individuals who were analyzed using multivariate ordinary least squares and logistic regression modeling that controlled for important demographic factors. Hypotheses were tested across two generations separately showing that a history of animal abuse does, indeed, predict later problem behaviors, including serious offending, marijuana use, other drug use, alcohol use, and deviant beliefs. Depending on the outcome examined, each model accounts for 5–34% of the variation in respondents’ problem behaviors. Within each model, animal abuse was often one of the strongest predictors. Implications of these findings, the study’s limitations, and future research directions are discussed.