Animal cruelty and bullying: Behavioral markers of delinquency risk or causal antecedents of delinquent behavior?

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine whether animal cruelty and bullying, in addition to serving as behavioral markers of delinquency risk, may also serve as causal antecedents of future delinquent behavior. It was hypothesized that these two behaviors would predict an increase in future offending via a rise in proactive criminal thinking, as measured by moral disengagement, one of its facets, but not via a rise in reactive criminal thinking or cognitive impulsivity.

METHODS: All 1170 male members of the Pathways to Desistance study (mean age = 16.05 years) served as participants in this study. The first three waves of data from the Pathways study were used to perform a causal mediation path analysis.

RESULTS: The results of this study supported the main research hypothesis. Specifically, the indirect effects of animal cruelty and bullying on future delinquency were mediated by moral disengagement but not cognitive impulsivity. Furthermore, the difference between moral disengagement and cognitive impulsivity mediation of the animal cruelty-delinquency relationship achieved statistical significance.

CONCLUSIONS: Findings from this study suggest that animal cruelty and bullying not only serve as early behavioral markers of delinquency risk but also play a potentially important role in delinquency growth and persistence.