A Qualitative Study of How Children Experience and Intervene in Threats to and Harm of Companion Animals in the Context of Intimate Partner Violence

Background: The link between intimate partner violence (IPV) and animal abuse has become an increasingly examined area of study in social work research (Bell, 2001; Risley-Curtiss, 2010). Rates of exposure to animal abuse among children living in IPV-affected households are significantly higher than for children living in households where family violence is not present (Ascione et al., 2007).  Despite increased scholarly awareness of interconnected experiences of violence in childhood, the prevalence and significance of children’s exposure to abuse of companion animals in IPV-affected homes has been relatively unexplored. To date, no published qualitative studies have investigated how children experience incidents of cruelty toward their pets in the context of IPV. The current study addresses these gaps in the literature and was guided by two primary research questions: 1) How do children with pets living in households affected by IPV experience threats to and harm of their companion animals? 2) When and how do children exposed to IPV protect companion animals who are threatened or harmed with violence?

Method: This study was part of a larger longitudinal study of women and their 7 to 12 year-old children’s experiences of IPV and concomitant animal abuse (N=245). Participants were recruited from one of 22 domestic violence service agencies in a western U.S. state. Qualitative data for the current analysis reflect 59 children (62% racial/ethnic minority) who reported either a) experiencing someone threaten to harm or kill their pet or b) seeing or hearing someone hurt or kill their pet. Specifically, qualitative data were obtained as part of the semi-structured Children’s Observations and Experiences with their Pets survey (Ascione & Weber, 1995), which was facilitated as an interview by a trained domestic violence advocate. Using Atlas.ti software, qualitative data were analyzed thematically using the method of Template analysis (Crabtree & Miller, 1999; King, 1998, 2012), an approach commonly employed in analyzing large qualitative data sets in social science research (Brooks & King, 2013). 

Results: Major themes included: 1) animal abuse as means for power/control by mother’s partner, 2) animal abuse by siblings, 3) animal abuse as a means of punishment, 4) direct intervention to protect companion animals, and 5) strategic preventative protection of companion animals.

Conclusion: Our findings suggest that prior research focusing exclusively on children’s exposure to adult-directed violence fails to capture the multifaceted experiences of violence occurring in IPV-affected households. Co-occurrence across different types of violence exposure has been noted as an important dimension to consider when examining risks associated with violence exposure in childhood. Exposure to animal abuse may be particularly traumatic and add another dimension to the effects of IPV (Melson, 2003) considering that children often rely on animals as a way of managing stress (Melson et al., 1997) and list pets as important social relationships (Kosonen, 1996). Future research should explore exposure to violence against companion animals as an additional risk factor for compromised mental and physical health among children living in households affected by IPV. Implications for comprehensive family assessment, risk assessment tools, and therapeutic intervention are discussed.