Animal abuse and callousness : predicting frequency and severity of partner-directed agression in men

The search continues for variables that improve the prediction of partner violence in men. Philosophy, anecdotes, and correlational data suggest a relationship between animal abuse and physical violence. This study tested animal abuse as a predictor of partner violence by investigating whether frequency of animal abuse predicted partner violence beyond, and/or in conjunction with, the effect of a variable known to be a reasonable predictor of violence: callousness. Male undergraduates completed the Aggression Toward Animals Scale (Gupta, 2000), the Emotional Toughness Scale (Beach & Gupta, 2000), and the Physical Assault subscale of the Revised Conflict Tactics ScalePerpetration (Straus, Hamby, Boney-McCoy, & Sugarman, 1996). Animal abuse added to prediction of violence beyond callousness, and interacted with callousness to predict violence. Additionally, the model predicted severe violence better than minor violence, for which the interaction disappeared. Results are discussed in terms of conceptualizing, diagnosing, and treating partner-directed physical violence in men.