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Animal abuse and human violence

Social Work professionals are recognizing the problematic trend among young offenders who have a history of being cruel to animals. / A sample of 118 files from a youth serving agency were examined to determine the potential relationships between demographics and background variables, selected items from the Child Behavior checklist (Achenbach, 1991), types of crimes and styles of aggression and animal cruelty. Reported styles of aggression consisted of proactive aggression (violent youth who planned their offences) and reactive aggression (youth who commit less serious crimes and would overreact to problems). / In a stepwise regression analysis of a theoretical model, two significant predictors of cruelty toward animals were found: (1) the youths' history of proactive aggression and (2) youths' exposure to physical abuse, this latter both directly, and also as a significant predictor of proactive aggression. / Further education and training for children, caregivers and professionals is needed to increase awareness of the link between animal cruelty and human violence.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.100743
Date January 2006
CreatorsMerry, Erin K. A.
PublisherMcGill University
Source SetsLibrary and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
Formatapplication/pdf
CoverageMaster of Social Work (School of Social Work.)
Rights© Erin K. A. Merry, 2006
Relationalephsysno: 002598449, proquestno: AAIMR32636, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest.

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