Children’s Beliefs about Animal Minds (Child-BAM): Associations with Positive and Negative Child–Animal Interactions

Hawkins, Roxanne; Williams, Joanne

doi:10.1080/08927936.2016.1189749

Cited by 50 publications

(77 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…Children's Attitudes towards Animal Cruelty (CAAC). The Children's Attitudes towards Animal Cruelty measure was adapted from an existing measure for adolescents (Connor, Currie & Lawrence, 2018) and validated with a younger population (Hawkins & Williams, 2016). The scale comprised 11-items where children were asked "How acceptable do you think it is to..?"…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Children’s attitudes towards animal cruelty: Exploration of predictors and socio-demographic variations

Hawkins

Williams

2019

Psychology, Crime & Law

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Assessing the risk for animal cruelty is imperative, yet understudied and problematic due to the sensitivity of the topic. Early prevention is critical, yet very little research examines cruelty when it first appears in childhood. The aim of this study was to explore children's attitudes towards types of animal cruelty, to investigate potential demographic differences, and to examine potential associations between acceptance of cruelty and cognitive and affective factors that place children 'at-risk' for cruelty perpetration. Questionnaire data was collected from 1,127 children in schools. The results indicate that cruelty attitudes are predicted by some demographic variables such as urban living, being male, younger age and not having pets, but depend on the type of animal cruelty. Acceptance of cruelty predicted low compassion and low reported humane behaviour towards animals. Acceptance of cruelty was predicted by negative attitudes towards animals, lower beliefs in animal minds and low attachment to pets, signifying the importance of targeting such variables in future prevention programmes. This study is an original contribution to research into childhood animal cruelty in the general population, with implications for designing and implementing early prevention programmes that tackle problematic attitudes to cruelty.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Children’s attitudes towards animal cruelty: Exploration of predictors and socio-demographic variations

Hawkins

Williams

2019

Psychology, Crime & Law

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“…The ‘attitudes towards animals’ measure [64] was adapted from the Pet Attitude Scale (PAS-M) [56,66]. This measure comprised three scales, each with various items scored on a five-point Likert scale (1—“strongly agree” to 5—“strongly disagree”).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Childhood Attachment to Pets: Associations between Pet Attachment, Attitudes to Animals, Compassion, and Humane Behaviour

Hawkins

Williams

2017

IJERPH

104

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Attachment to pets has an important role in children’s social, emotional, and cognitive development, mental health, well-being, and quality of life. This study examined associations between childhood attachment to pets and caring and friendship behaviour, compassion, and attitudes towards animals. This study also examined socio-demographic differences, particularly pet ownership and pet type. A self-report survey of over one thousand 7 to 12 year-olds in Scotland, UK, revealed that the majority of children are strongly attached to their pets, but attachment scores differ depending on pet type and child gender. Analysis revealed that attachment to pets is facilitated by compassion and caring and pet-directed friendship behaviours and that attachment to pets significantly predicts positive attitudes towards animals. The findings have implications for the promotion of prosocial and humane behaviour. Encouraging children to participate in pet care behaviour may promote attachment between children and their pet, which in turn may have a range of positive outcomes for both children (such as reduced aggression, better well-being, and quality of life) and pets (such as humane treatment). This study enhances our understanding of childhood pet attachment and has implications for humane education and promoting secure emotional attachments in childhood.

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“…Age [13], sex [2,5], culture [14,15], vegetarianism [9], personality [11] and religion [16] have all been identified as important factors. The most powerful and consistent (negative) predictor of attitudes to animal use is belief in animal mind (BAM) [9,[17][18][19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Man's best friends: attitudes towards the use of different kinds of animal depend on belief in different species' mental capacities and purpose of use

2020

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The animal purpose questionnaire (APQ) is a new instrument to measure human attitudes to animal use systematically across both species and purpose of use. This offers a more fine-grained approach to our understanding of how the belief in a specific animal's mental capacities relates to (dis-)agreement with their use for different human purposes. In the present study, 317 participants completed an online survey containing the APQ and the belief in animal mind (BAM) scale in a species-specific format, to test the prediction that levels of (dis-)agreement with animal use should mirror participants' judgements of animal sentience. The results obtained with the APQ confirmed that attitudes to animal use differed significantly across both purpose and species. Key findings included a relatively greater concern for dolphins and dogs over chimpanzees (suggesting that phylogenetic position is not the only determinant of attitudes to animal use). Across the purposes examined, respondents were largely negative about animal usage, with the exception that there was less disagreement if this was for medical research. Participants were also asked to provide demographic details such as gender and dietary preference. Regression analyses revealed high predictive power for species-specific BAM across five different kinds of animal use. General BAM scores, non-meat-eating and being female accounted for 31.5% of the total variability in APQ scores. The results indicate that BAM is a strong predictor of self-reported attitudes for using particular animals. However, the results showed some exceptions in the case of culturally typical ‘produce’ animals.

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Children’s Beliefs about Animal Minds (Child-BAM): Associations with Positive and Negative Child–Animal Interactions

Cited by 50 publications

References 61 publications

Children’s attitudes towards animal cruelty: Exploration of predictors and socio-demographic variations

Children’s attitudes towards animal cruelty: Exploration of predictors and socio-demographic variations

Childhood Attachment to Pets: Associations between Pet Attachment, Attitudes to Animals, Compassion, and Humane Behaviour

Man's best friends: attitudes towards the use of different kinds of animal depend on belief in different species' mental capacities and purpose of use

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