A Comparison of Maltreated Children and Non-Maltreated Children on Their Experiences with Animals—A Japanese Study

Abstract

Recently, studies in the United States, Canada, and Europe have shown that child abuse and animal abuse can coexist in the same household. The implications of these studies are that attention to animal abuse might lead to early detection of, and intervention in, child abuse. Although a promising area of study, in Japan there are no published empirical studies which have examined the relationship between children in abusive families and their companion animals. This study examined the differences between maltreated and non-maltreated children in Japan on their experiences with animals. The Boat Inventory on Animal Related Experience (BIARE), a questionnaire on positive and negative experiences with animals, was used to survey a group of institutionalized, maltreated children (who could not live in their homes for various reasons including abuse) (group M, n = 26) and a group of children at an elementary school (non-maltreated children, group C, n = 113). Overall, compared with group C, children in group M engaged in more activities with animals and used animals as a source of support. At the same time, children in group M were more likely to report witnessing animal abuse and committing more serious animal abuse, compared with the children in group C. Implications of the results for Japanese child protection agencies are discussed. Currently, Japanese child protection agencies are aware of the benefits of animals for vulnerable children, but they should also be aware of the negative aspects of the relationship and take necessary measures for risk control.

A First Look at Harm Toward Animals by Bahamians in Childhood

“…Our results are in general agreement with those reported by Yamazaki (2010) from Japan who found that maltreated children perpetrated more serious acts of abuse than non-maltreated children.…”

“…These figures give us an idea of the number of people who may be at risk of being potential threats to society. The results also indicate that in an AfroCaribbean society, when children harmed animals, males had higher CAI scores, an observation in keeping with other studies in the United States (among others, Flynn, 2001) and in Japan, where male children were more likely than female children to abuse animals (Yamazaki, 2010). However, this link between sex and animal abuse has not been reported by all researchers (Currie, 2006).…”

“…To date, most of the research on childhood cruelty towards animals has occurred in North America, Australia and Europe, and while research is now expanding to other areas such as Malaysia (Mellor, Yeow, bt Mamat, & bt Mohd Hapidzal, 2008) and Japan (Yamazaki, 2010), there is still a need to examine childhood harm towards animals in other communities.…”

Confirmatory factor analyses of the children’s attitudes and behaviors towards animals scale in two eastern cultural contexts

“…Boat reported that the instrument was piloted as a structured interview in clinical settings for screening for trauma indicators in hospitalized adolescents. However, the BIARE has been used in only two reported studies, one by Flynn (1999) who modified it for use with a sample of undergraduate students in the United States, and the other by Yamazaki (2010) in a study of maltreated and non-maltreated children in Japan.…”

“…In a more direct assessment of childhood cruelty to animals, Ascione et al (1997) developed a semi-structured interview for use with children. The Children and Animals Assessment Instrument (CAAI) was field-tested with community and clinical samples of 15 boys and 5 girls (M = 10.4yrs) in day treatment and residential programs for emotionally disturbed youth, incarcerated adolescents, and children accompanying their mothers to shelters for battered women.…”