Bullying and Animal Abuse: Is There a Link?

In recent years, an increased awareness of school violence -- including mass shootings and individual acts of bullying -- has captured national attention. Bill Henry and Cheryl Sanders of Metropolitan State College of Denver assessed bullying and victimization experiences among 185 college males to see if there are any connections with animal abuse and attitudes toward animals.

The intuitive link between acts of aggression directed against perceived weaker victims was substantiated: Those involved in multiple acts of animal abuse were most likely to report being either victims or perpetrators of physical or verbal bullying, and those who reported the most bullying had the highest rates of animal abuse.

They noted that with a relatively high rate of males (30 percent) indicating that they had committed some acts of animal abuse, these acts may be considered normative among American males and, as such, involvement in a single episode of animal abuse may not be indicative of disturbed social or psychological development. Moreover, there may be cultural differences in the perpetration of animal abuse that warrant further study.