REPORTS OF SEVERE PHYSICAL PUNISHMENT AND EXPOSURE TO ANIMAL CRUELTY BY INMATES CONVICTED OF FELONIES AND BY UNIVERSITY-STUDENTS

A self-report questionnaire designed to assess abusive childhood envir onments and exposure to animal cruelty was administered to 314 inmates in a prisoner classification center. Although high rates of physical punishment characterized the entire sample, persons charged with viole nt, but nonhomicidal crimes reported more severely punitive childhood histories than those charged with homicidal crimes, sex offenses, and nonviolent offenses. Some exposure to animal cruelty was widespread in the sample, but there was no association between experiencing animal cruelty and the type of crime committed. Moreover, there were only mod est associations between animal cruelty experiences and the aversive c hildhood histories of the subjects, as well as the subjects' reported use of physical and sexual coercion in dating and intimate relationshi ps. To determine whether the high base rate of exposure to animal crue lty was unique to the incarcerated sample, a follow-up study was compl eted with university undergraduates. Widespread exposure to some anima l cruelty was reported by undergraduates; there were modest associatio ns between reporting animal cruelty and reporting punitive and acrimon ious childhood histories. In general, the findings were consistent wit h the hypothesis that there is an association between punitive childho od histories and antisocial behavior but not consistent with the hypot hesis that exposure to animal cruelty is importantly related to antiso cial behavior or child maltreatment. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Scien ce Ltd