ENHANCING CHILDRENS

ATTITUDES ABOUT THE

HUMANE TREATMENT
OF ANIMALS:
GENERALIZATION TO
HUMAN-DIRECTED EMPATHY*

Frank R.Ascione
Abstract. We assessed the impact of a
year-long, school-based humane education program on younger (first and second
graders) and older (fourth and fifth graders) childrens attitudes toward the treatment of animals. Generalization to humandirected empathy was also measured. Using a pretest-posttest design and ANCOVA,
we found that the program enhanced the
animal-related attitudes of children differentially, depending on grade level. For
younger children, there was no significant
difference between experimental (E) and
control (C) group attitude means; however, qualitative analysis showed that
greater enhancement of attitudes occurred
for first grade E group children than for C
group children at that grade level. No differences were present on the generalization measure of empathy. For older children, there was a significant difference
Department of Psychology, Utah State University, Logan,
UT 843222810.
*
Based on a paper presented as part of a symposium, Pets
and Childrens Sodoemotional Development: Relations to
Cognitive Role-taking, Attachment, Adjustment, and Empathy, at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research
in Child Development, Seattle, Washington, April 18,
1991. Research in this paper was supported, in part, by a
grant from the Delta Society funded by the Pet Food Institute and by funds from the National Association for Humane and Environmental Education. I especially thank
the teachers and children who participated for so patiently
accepting the numerous intrusions into their classrooms.
I am grateful for the assistance provided by Myra Lynch,
Steve Zsiray, Mary Bissonette, Roger Graves, Debbie
Ascione, Steve Murdock, Chad Davis, Shayne Bland, Don
Sisson, and Karen Ranson.

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between E and C group attitude means

qualified by grade levelthere was greater
enhancement of humane attitudes for E
group than for C group fourth graders but
no difference for fifth graders. On the generalization measure of empathy, posttest
means for the E group were significantly
greater than means for the C group regardless of grade level. The results contribute to
the growing literature on the relation between children and animals and serve to
encourage and validate the efforts of humane educators to improve childrens caring and kindness toward companion and
noncompanion animals.
The role of nonhuman animals, especially
pets or companion animals, in the psychological and social development of children
has been the focus of numerous calls for increased research attention (e.g., Levinson
1983; Westerlund 1982). Heeding these calls
are researchers whose efforts have been
aimed at the study and enhancement of
childrens attitudes toward the care and treatment of and respect for animals. Developmental changes in the quality of childrens
humane attitudes have been assessed by
Kellert and Westervelt (1983); Rheingold
and Emery (1986) have explored the roots
of such attitudes in the second year of human life; Fogel, Melson, and Mistry (1986)
have included values and attitudes toward
animals as underlying one of the many forms
of nurturance that children may display;
Kanner et al. (1987) included pet-related
items in their measures of uplifts and hassles
in early adolescence; and Bryant (1985) has
explored how relations with companion
animals may relate to childrens empathic
tendencies toward people. Other evidence
of revitalized attention to this area is the
number of childrelated papers included in
the 1985 Special Issue of the journal Marriage and Family Review, which focused on
Pets and the Family.

Frank R.Ascione

A topic of interest in this general area is

the effectiveness of school-based humane
education programs in enhancing
childrens understanding about and attitudes and behavior toward companion
and noncompanion animals. The focus of
this project was assessing the impact of a
year-long humane education program on
childrens attitudes toward animals. The
generalization of such attitudes to human
empathy was also of interest. Following a
review of the relevant literature, the specific aims of this study will be presented.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Pets or companion animals are an integral
part of the ecology of many children in the
United States. Pet ownership has been
found to be significantly more common in
families with school-aged children and
adolescents than in families without children (Albert and Bulcroft 1988). In
samples from California and Connecticut,
children reported pet ownership ranging
from 52%, for kindergartners, to 75%, for
fifth graders (Ascione, Latham, and
Worthen 1985). Higher rates of pet ownership in a sample of older children have
been reported by Bryant (1990). The numbers confirm the importance of attending
to the human-companion animals relation
(Kidd and Kidd 1987; National Institute of
Health 1988).
The study of the role of child-animal
relations potentially pervades most of the
significant domains of developmental
analysis (Poresky, Hendrix, and Woroby
1988) and, historically, is represented in
the early developmental psychology
literature (e.g., Bucke 1903; Hall and
Browne 1904; Lehman 1927). Therefore,
some restriction of the scope of the
following review was essential. In this
research, the focus was on the
development of humane attitudes in

Childrens Attitudes

school-aged children and the effects of

intervention efforts designed to enhance
such attitudes.
Eisenberg (1988) writes: Although
there is very little research concerning the
teaching of humane attitudes towards animals to children, it appears as if there is a
need to do so. In this section, I review a
number of studies that have attempted to
assess educative efforts to enhance
childrens attitudes toward the humane
treatment of animals. Some of these studies focus on animals in general and others
emphasize the treatment of companion
animals. Two general conclusions emerge.
First, childrens attitudes in this domain
can be enhanced. Second, there has yet to
be implemented a school-based program
of sufficient intensity to demonstrate significant improvements in childrens animal-related attitudes.
One of the first studies to investigate the
effects of intervention on childrens
attitudes toward animals was conducted
by Vockell and Hodal (1980). Their report
focused on the impact of typical
oneshot humane education programs on
a measure of childrens humaneness. The
programs consisted of a single school visit
by a humane educator coupled with the
provision of printed materials and posters.
Third through sixth grade classrooms
received either a visit (of unspecified
duration but presumably the length of one
class period) and print material (referred to
as the intensive treatment) or print
material alone (light treatment), or
neither (control classrooms). Although the
children in this study were not pretested,
they were posttested on two forms of the
authors Fireman Test, designed to assess
the degree of childrens favorable attitudes
toward animal life (children are asked to
select from a list of inanimate possessions
and pets that they would attempt to rescue
from a burning home). Vockell and Hodal

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177

report that the two treatment classrooms

mean scores exceeded that of the control
group for one form of the Fireman Test but
not for the other. Neither treatment
condition was judged superior.
One problem not addressed was why
the control groups performances on the
two presumably equivalent tests differed
so greatly (.99 for the Johnny form and
1.68 for the Billy form). Furthermore,
without pretest information it was possible
that the various groups differed
significantly in their humane attitudes
prior to the implementation of the
programs. Nevertheless, the authors
concluded that the intervention failed.
In a similarly designed study, Fitzgerald
(1981) compared a variety of schoolbased
interventions in 16 fifth and sixth grade
classrooms and included the important
design feature of pretesting children. The
four conditions were (1) repeated
treatment (RT) in which a master teacher
presented four humane education lessons
over a two-month period (once every two
weeks); (2) intensive treatment (IT) where
the information contained in RT was
covered in a single class session; (3) light
treatment (LT), which involved the
provision of reading material without any
direct instruction; and (4) a control
conditionno humane education efforts
occurred. All classrooms were pre- and
posttested using the Fireman Tests.
Analysis of covariance indicated that the
mean score for the IT condition was
significantly more humane than mean
scores for any of the three other groups
(RT, LT, and control). The three other
groups also did not differ significantly from
each other. Fitzgerald concluded that a
focused classroom presentation made by a
master teacher could have a positive
impact on childrens humane attitudes.
Cameron (1983) investigated two forms
of humane education using seven eighth

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grade classrooms and their effects on

animal-related attitudes. Two classrooms
were given reading material and media
presentations (PRINT), two were provided
the above together with lectures delivered
by the instructor (LECTURE), and the
remaining three classrooms served as a
control group. The instruction in the PRINT
and LECTURE groups lasted for three
school weeks for a total of approximately
14 hours of in-class exposure. All children
were pre- and posttested on an instrument
tapping animal-related attitudes. Using
analysis of variance, Cameron found that
the mean posttest attitude scores of the
PRINT and LECTURE groups were more
positive than the control groups mean
score; although the PRINT and LECTURE
groups did not differ, and the LECTURE
and control groups did not differ, the
PRINT group mean score was higher than
that of the control group. This study
demonstrated that a more intensive
intervention can have a positive impact on
childrens attitudes toward animals even
with children older than those studied by
either Vockell and Hodal (1980) or
Fitzgerald (1981). One limitation of this
study, however, was that the attitude
instrument developed by Cameron
included only three items (of the 25 total)
clearly related to the care and treatment of
companion animals. Also, in studies of this
nature, the individual who provides the
instruction should not conduct the
assessments (to avoid potential bias). That
was not the case in this study.
Malcarne (1981) studied a small group
(33 children) of third and fourth graders to
assess the effects of drama and role playing on childrens empathy and prosocial
behavior toward humans and animals.
One-third of the sample received dramatization and role-playing experience related
to human victims of distress, one-third
with animal victims, and the remaining

Frank R.Ascione

third were read The Gift of the Sacred

Dogs with discussion focused on the story
content rather than role taking. Each condition lasted for one hour. All children
were then posttested (no pretests were
given) on three measures: (1) story resolution where either a human or an animal
victim of distress was the subjectthe
childs response was scored for helping
and empathy, (2) the Fireman Test, and (3)
childrens willingness to volunteer time at
either a childrens hospital or an animal
shelterthe number of hours mentioned
was the dependent variable. Malcarne
found that children trained to role play
around animal distress scored higher on
the Fireman test than did the other two
groups. Both treatment groups had higher
scores on the animal version of the story
resolution test than the control group and
expressed a greater willingness to volunteer at a childrens hospital than did the
control group. Willingness to volunteer at
an animal shelter was higher for the group
trained to role play around animal distress
than for the other two groups. Although
this study provided important information
regarding the relation between empathy
for humans and for animals, an issue also
addressed by Bailey and Doescher (1991)
and Melson (1991), the absence of pretesting makes interpretation problematic.
In an evaluation of school-based humane education efforts sponsored by the
Massachusetts Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals, Hein (1987) reported the effects of a single humane education presentation in the second grade
and a series of three presentations in the
third, fourth, and fifth grades on childrens
attitudes toward the treatment of animals.
As described in the report, the presentations consisted of fewer than three hours of
total instruction. Hein found that, in comparison to a no-intervention control
group, classrooms receiving humane edu-

Childrens Attitudes

cation in the second, third, and fourth

grades demonstrated statistically significant increases in humane attitudes. No
effects were obtained for fifth graders. He
cautions that changes obtained at the second grade could be attributed to large increases in humane attitudes for a small
number of children and that changes for
third and fourth graders were restricted to
attitude scale items directly related to the
specific instruction provided (i.e., changes
may have resulted from teaching to the
test). One of Heins recommendations
was that substantially more intensive instruction is needed in humane education
to effect significant changes in attitudes.
Finally, using the National Association
for Humane and Environmental Educations (NAHEE) curriculum guides,
Ascione, Latham, and Worthen (1985) assessed the effects of a school-based intervention, implemented by teachers, on
childrens humane attitudes. A total of 77
teachers and their 1,800 pupils (K through
6th grade) were randomly assigned to either an intervention condition (E group) or
a no-intervention condition (C group).
Children were pre- and posttested on a
Primary Attitude Scale (PAS) or Intermediate Attitude Scale (IAS) depending on their
grade level. These instruments assessed attitudes toward companion and noncompanion animals. Teachers implemented
NAHEEs curriculum over the course of the
school year and reported that, on the average, 10 hours were spent on humane
education material.
Results showed that mean PAS posttest
scores were higher for E group kindergarteners and first graders than for C
group children. Although the EC group
difference was in the expected direction
for second graders, this difference was not
statistically significant. No gender differences were found in the PAS analysis. For
the IAS, significant grade and gender

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179

differences were found (mean humane attitude scores were higher for girls and
higher for fourth, fifth, and sixth graders
than for third graders) and a treatment
(EvsC) effect that approached significance
(p<.08). Subsequent analyses showed that
E group third graders at one site (California) and fourth graders at the other site
(Connecticut) scored more humanely than
C group children at those grades and
sites.
This study demonstrated that childrens
attitudes toward the treatment of animals
could be measured reliably in a
developmentally sensitive manner. The
attitude scales developed were also
sensitive to gender and grade differences
and to a relatively weak educational
intervention. Given the fact that only 10
total hours of instruction were devoted to
this program over the entire school year, a
question that needed to be addressed was
whether a more intensive intervention
would produce more dramatic and
consistent increases in childrens animalrelated attitudes (a point stressed in
Eisenberg 1988).
STATEMENT OF SPECIFIC AIMS
AND STUDY QUESTIONS
Given that most humane education efforts
have involved interventions of relatively
short duration and weak intensity, there
was a need for a study of humane education that represented substantial instruction within a design that reduced interpretational problems. The following questions
were addressed: Will a 40-hour schoolbased program of humane education significantly enhance the animal-related attitudes of first and second graders and
fourth and fifth graders? Will this enhancement exceed that displayed by what may
be maturational changes in a comparison
group of children not exposed to this pro-

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gram? How are childrens empathic tendencies related to their attitudes toward
the care and treatment of animals? Do program effects on attitudes generalize to
childrens empathic tendencies?
METHOD
Overview
This study used a pretest-posttest design
with 16 classrooms randomly assigned to
an experimental group (E) and 16 to a control group (C). Volunteer teachers either
implemented the humane education curriculum during an entire school year (E
group) or were asked to refrain from systematic instruction in humane education
(C group). Pupils in each classroom were
pre- and posttested on a measure of attitudes toward the humane treatment of animals and a measure of empathy toward
humans (to assess generalization effects to
the interpersonal domain and as a tie to
other humane education studies with children). Analyses of covariance (using pretest scores as the covariate) were used to
assess the impact of the curriculum on
childrens attitudes and empathy. Gender
and experience with companion animals
were also entered as factors in the analyses together with grade level (cross-sectional comparisons).
Participants
Teacher Recruitment. Following school
district and Institutional Review Board approval, letters describing the project were
distributed to elementary-level teachers in
two northern Utah school districts. In this
initial contact, teachers were asked to indicate their interest in the project and respond to questions about the grade level
they would teach the coming year,
prior experience with humane education

Frank R.Ascione

generally, and prior use of the specific

curriculum to be used in this study. They
were asked whether they agreed to be randomly assigned to either the experimental
or control group should they be selected
for inclusion in the study.
Responses indicating interest were
received from 91 teachers, 66 of whom
met project requirements. At each grade
level, eight teachers were randomly
selected for inclusion in the project and
then each teacher within a grade level was
randomly assigned to the experimental or
control group.
Final Teacher Sample. All first, second, and
fourth grade teachers were women. For the
fifth grade, there were six men (four in the
experimental group) and two women (both
in the control group). None of the 32
teachers indicated prior experience with
the curriculum guides to be used in this
study and only two mentioned general experience with humane education beyond
a field trip to a zoo or a visit by a Humane
Society representative (one fourth grade
experimental group teacher had experience with Project Wild and a second grade
experimental group teacher did not specify
the humane education program with
which she had experience). There was no
teacher attrition during the course of
the projecttwo teachers had unexpected
medical leaves for approximately
three weeks each, but, in both cases, substitutes continued to implement the curriculum.
Pupil Sample and Characteristics. The initial sample of children for whom pretest
data were available included 813 pupils in
two school districts. The demographics of
this area of northern Utah indicate that per
capita income is $7,923 ($200 lower than
the state figure), 95% of the population is
Caucasian, and 79.7% report membership

Childrens Attitudes

in the Mormon church (the state figure is

69.2%).
Teachers reported the ethnic status
characteristics of children in their
classrooms. In accord with overall
population data for this area, 94.5% of the
pupils were Caucasian. Minority group
membership was as follows: Hispanic
1.0%; Black0.2%; Asian/Islander
1.2%; Native American1.0%; other and
mixed
designations1.7%.
Boys
comprised 53.5% of the sample and girls,
46.5%.
All children were informed that they
were not required to complete the
assessment instruments. Six experimental
group and four control group children
asked to be excused from testing. In
addition, three children were excluded
because they did not speak English and 25
(11 experimental and 14 control) were
excluded because of repeated absences
during the pretesting phase of the project.
At the time of posttesting, 6 percent of
the pretested sample was lost because
children had moved to other classrooms or
schools or because they were repeatedly
absent during the posttesting phase of the
study. Sample loss was 20 children at the
first and second grades (5%) and 28
children at the fourth and fifth grades
(6.5%). Of the children lost, 54% were in
the experimental group and 46% were in
the control group; therefore attrition
appeared unrelated to group membership.
The number of children in the final
posttested sample, listed by grade for
Experimental and Control conditions,
respectively, was: First91, 91; Second
95, 88; Fourth91, 104; Fifth101, 104.
Intervention and Control
Conditions
The intervention implemented was based
on the NAHEE curriculum guides. The

ANTHROZOS, Volume V, Number 3

181

authors (Savesky and Malcarne 1981)

describe the purposes of the guides as follows: (1) assist children in developing
compassion, a sense of justice, and a respect for all living creatures; (2) provide
the knowledge and understanding necessary for children to behave according to
these principles; and (3) foster a sense of
responsibility on the part of children to
affirm and act upon their personal beliefs
(1981, p. iii). To accomplish these goals,
NAHEE developed four curriculumblended guides, three of which are appropriate
for the grade levels that were studied. The
activities and lessons included in the
guides were designed to be used as part of
regular instruction in language arts, social
studies, math, health, and science. The
advantages of this approach were, first, its
appeal to teachers and administrators because the materials may be used as part of
regular instruction and do not have to be
added as additional curriculum areas and
second, that the materials were to be used
on a more extensive basis than would be
the case with a single visit by a humane
educator.
The guides covered four general areas
with 35 concepts related to human-animal
relationships, pets or companion animals,
wild animals, and farm animals. The
guides offer a variety of teaching
techniques including definition of terms,
role playing, expressing feelings,
classification skills, value clarification,
drama, storytelling, decision making,
recording data, and creative writing. In
addition to the activities suggested for
teacher use, the guides list resources
available from local animal shelters and
public libraries that can be used to
facilitate instruction. The guides were
developed with careful attention to
childrens cognitive understanding at
different grade levels and were extensively
field tested.

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ANTHROZOS, Volume V, Number 3

Teachers in the E group were asked to

devote a minimum of 40 hours of
classroom instruction based on the guides
during the school year. They were
instructed to focus on concepts related to
humananimal relations and companion
animals and as time permitted to wild and
farm animals.
These teachers attended a workshop to
familiarize them with the use of program
materials, to explain the need for avoiding
communication with C group teachers
until the project was completed, and to
distribute forms on which teachers noted
which concepts they taught and their
evaluation of the guides usefulness.
Teachers were required to complete these
forms each day they covered guide-related
concepts in class and submit them
monthly to a research assistant who
collected them as an interventionmonitoring device.
Teachers randomly assigned to the C
group were asked to avoid implementing
any special humane education program
during the course of the study. C group
teachers were provided curriculum guides
for future use after posttesting was
completed in the spring. C group teachers
were also asked to avoid discussing this
project with E group teachers until after
the project was completed.
Instrumentation and Dependent
Measures
Four instruments were used in this study,
the first being a questionnaire assessing
childrens experience with companion animals and other animal-related contexts
(e.g., visits to zoos, farms). Information
from this questionnaire, given to all E and
C group pupils at the start of the study, was
used in subsidiary analyses (e.g., did the
intervention differentially affect children
who had or did not have pets?). The three

Frank R.Ascione

remaining instruments were the core assessment measures.1

Primary Attitude Scale (PAS). This instrument was developed during earlier evaluation studies (Borg et al. 1982; Ascione,
Latham, and Worthen 1985) and has undergone systematic refinements yielding
its current form (Ascione 1988a). The PAS
is designed to be used with kindergarten,
first, and second grade children and contains 23 questions related to the care and
treatment of animals (e.g., Should you
spank a cat to teach it to mind you? Do
you think its fun to break up a spiders
web?) A YES/NO response format is used
with the more humane response assigned
2 points and the less humane response 1
point. Thus, scores range from 23 to 46.
Coefficient alpha, a measure of the tests
internal consistency, was .63.
Intermediate Attitude Scale (IAS). Developed simultaneously with the PAS, the IAS
(Ascione 1988b) was designed for use with
third, fourth, fifth, and sixth grade pupils. It
contains 36 declarative statements with
which a child can strongly agree, agree,
disagree, or strongly disagree (e.g., If I
had a dog, I would want it to run free
around the neighborhood. Its wrong to
have animals fight just so people can be
entertained.). For each item, the most humane choice is assigned 4 points and the
least humane 1 point; thus, scores range
from 36 to 144. Coefficient alpha for the
IAS was .69.
These instruments each required
approximately 30 to 60 minutes to
administer and were used as pre- and
posttests. Their validity as measures of
intervention effectiveness has been
demonstrated (Ascione, Latham, and
Worthen 1985) and the IASs validity in

Childrens Attitudes

differentiating individuals quality and

quantity of companion animal experience
was shown in Malcarnes (1986) research
with adolescents.
Empathy Index (Bryant 1982, 1987a,
1987b). This 22-item measure was designed to assess human empathic tendencies in children and has been used in other
companion animal studies with children
(Bryant 1985; Malcarne 1986). Coefficient
alphas were reported to range from .54 to
.79, and both convergent and discriminant
validity have been demonstrated (Bryant
1982). Total scores for fourth and fifth
graders (Bryant Intermediate or B-I), using
a Likert four-response format, range from
22 to 88. A YES/NO format was selected as
more appropriate at the first and second
grades (Bryant Primary or B-P). The range
of scores on the B-P is from 22 to 44.
Higher scores reflect greater empathy. This
instrument was also used as a pre- and
posttest measure and allowed assessment
of the general relation between empathy
and humane attitudes and any generalization of intervention program effects from
animal-related attitudes to human-related
empathy. Higher scores reflect greater empathy.
The PAS, IAS, and B-I were groupadministered and the B-P individually
administered in all classrooms prior to the
curriculum implementation in the fall
(pretesting) and again in the spring after
teachers reported completing the 40
cumulative hours of instruction
(posttesting). Tests were administered by
assistants (who defined words on the tests
that children said they didnt understand)
naive as to the group membership (E or C)
of the teachers. As often as possible, pupils
absent on testing days were tested as soon
as they returned to class.

ANTHROZOS, Volume V, Number 3

183

RESULTS
Curriculum Implementation
Experimental group teacher reports of
time spent using the curriculum were
tabulated each month. Control group
teachers were asked to estimate the
amount of time, in hours, that they devoted to instruction related to humane
education over the course of the school
year.
The mean number of hours devoted to
the curriculum reported by Experimental
group teachers, by grade level, was First
Grade38.52, Second Grade38.54,
Fourth Grade38.45, Fifth Grade39.75.
Reported time allocation for individual
teachers ranged from 32.4 hours to 45.7
hours.
Control group teachers reports of hours
spent on humane education content, by
grade level, were First Grade11.25,
Second Grade7.0, Fourth Grade
14.00, Fifth Grade20.5. The range for
individual teachers was from 0 hours to 40
hours with an overall mean of 13.19 hours
(in contrast to the Experimental groups
overall mean of 38.82 hours).2

Pupil Questionnaire Responses

Childrens responses to six questions regarding their experiences with companion
animals, farms and zoos, and animal shelters were analyzed using chi square to
determine if responses were related to Experimental or Control group membership.
These analyses were performed on the pretested sample of children and yielded no
statistically significant differ ences (responses were independent of group membership).
Childrens responses to the items on the
questionnaire yielded the following

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ANTHROZOS, Volume V, Number 3

percentages: Do you have a pet at

home? Yes76.5%; What kind of pet do
you have? NONE23.4%, DOG
ONLY15.4%, DOG plus other5.0%,
CAT ONLY15.0%, CAT plus other
20.8%,
Other
kinds
of
pets/
combinations20.4%; Have you ever
visited a zoo? YES97.8%; Have you
ever lived on a farm? YES88.2%; Have
you ever visited a farm? YES24.6%;
Have you ever visited an animal shelter?
YES43.1%. (It should be noted that the
only animal shelters in Cache County are
associated with local veterinarians
offices.)
Pre- and posttest reports of having a
home pet were entered as covariates in the
analyses of covariance on the main
dependent variables (PAS, IAS, B-P, and BI) but in no case were the results
significant. It should be noted that change
in home pet reports from pre- to
posttesting occurred for a small minority of
children (less than 15%).
Analysis of Dependent Measures
The general statistical approach was to
perform analysis of covariance in which
pretest scores on the dependent measure
were considered in evaluating posttest differences. The analyses of covariance were
performed separately for the attitude and
empathy dependent measures. The more
conservative approach of treating the
classroom, instead of individual pupils, as
the unit of analysis was used.
For each analysis, the main independent
variables were Treatment (Experi-mental
[E] or Control [C]), Grade (First [G1] or
Second [G2], Fourth [G4] or Fifth [G5]),
and Gender [Boy or Girl]. In descriptions
of the results, adjusted means (M) and
standard deviations of the mean (SD) are
reported.

Frank R.Ascione

Figure 1: Mean PAS Posttest Minus Pretest (Difference Score)*

*

Arranged in decreasing order

Primary Attitude Scale

The mean posttest score for children in the
E group (41.58, SD=.17) did not differ significantly from the mean for C group children (41.09, SD=.17). There was no significant effect for Grade (G1 M=41.20,
SD=.18; G2 M=41.46, SD=.18) or for gender (girls M=41.43, SD=.21; boys
M=41.23, SD=.20). There were no significant interaction effects (e.g., TreatmentGrade).
A more qualitative analysis is shown in
Figure 1 in which are plotted mean
change scores (classroom posttest mean
minus pretest mean) for each classroom
and grade level. The positive numbers
reflect improvements in attitude scores
from pretesting to posttesting. The mean
change score for each G1 E classroom
(range of changes: 2.75 to 3.05) exceeded
every G1 C classroom mean (range of

Childrens Attitudes

changes: .87 to 1.81). No differences

between the E and C groups were evident
for the second gradethis will be
addressed in a later discussion of potential
ceiling effects.
Bryant Primary Empathy Measure
The mean posttest score for children in the
E group (36.83, SD=.31) did not differ significantly from the mean for C group children (36.50, SD=.31). The main effect for
Grade was not significant (G1 M=36.34,
SD=.31; G2 M=36.99, SD=.32). There was
a significant main effect for Gender
[F(1,12)=14.82, p<.01] with the mean for
girls (37.31, SD=.18) greater than the
mean for boys (36.01, SD=.17). There
were no significant interaction effects.
Qualitative analysis of EC change
scores yielded no consistent classroom
differences.

ANTHROZOS, Volume V, Number 3

185

Figure 2: Mean IAS Posttest Minus Pretest (Difference Score)*

*

Arranged in decreasing order

Intermediate Attitude Scale

Although there were no main effects for
Treatment, Grade, or Gender, there was a
significant TreatmentGrade interaction
[F(1,12)=5.63, p<.05]. Subsequent analysis indicated that this interaction was accounted for by a significant EC difference
for G4 but not for G5. The mean for E
group fourth graders (112.23, SD=1.60)
was greater than the mean for C group
fourth graders (103.65, SD=1.56). Although not a significant difference, the
fifth graders E group mean (108.26,
SD=1.49) was greater than the C group
mean (106.16, SD=1.49).
Figure 2 shows mean change scores on
the IAS for each classroom and grade
level. Negative change scores reflect a

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ANTHROZOS, Volume V, Number 3

decrease in attitude scores from pre- to

posttesting. Fourth grade E group mean
change scores were greater than any of the
mean changes for C group classrooms (E
group range of changes: 6.52 to 12.14; C
group range of changes: -3.96 to 5.05). E
C group differences also favored the E
group for fifth graders but were not as
consistent as the fourth grade data.
Bryant Intermediate Empathy
Measure
Both the Treatment and Gender main effects were significant in the analysis of this
measure. The mean empathy score for
children in the E group (60.25, SD=.80)
was greater than the mean for C group

Frank R.Ascione

children (58.21, SD=.78) regardless of

grade level [F(1,12)=4.98, p<.05] (neither
the TreatmentGrade nor other interaction
effects were significant). Girls mean empathy score (M=61.27, SD=.45) was
greater than boys (M=57.19; SD=.45),
[F(1,12)=13.55, p<.01].
Animal-Related Attitudes and
Human-Related Empathy
One of the issues to be addressed by this
study was the relationship between the
measures assessing humane attitudes toward animals (PAS and IAS) and those assessing human-related empathy (B-P and
B-I). To this end, Pearson correlations were
computed, for the entire final sample, between attitude and empathy measures.
These correlations were computed on pretest data, prior to the implementation of
the humane education curriculum; thus, EC comparisons were not made.
For the younger children, there was a
significant positive correlation between
total scores on the PAS and the B-P (r=.31,
p<.001). For the older children, the IAS/BI correlation was also positive and
statistically significant (r=.34, p<.001).
These correlations provide evidence for a
clear yet nonredundant relation between
childrens attitudes about the treatment of
companion and noncompanion animals
and their human directed empathy, as
measured by the B-P and B-I.
DISCUSSION
Humane Education Treatment Effects
The humane education program enhanced the animal-related attitudes of
children differentially, depending on
grade level. For younger children (first and
second grade), there was no significant
difference between E and C group attitude

Childrens Attitudes

means; however, qualitative analysis suggested that greater enhancement of attitudes occurred for first grade E group children than for C group children at that
grade level. In contrast, no difference between E and C groups was evident for second graders. No differences were present
on the generalization measure of empathy.
For older children (fourth and fifth graders), there was a significant difference between E and C group attitude means qualified by grade levelthere was greater enhancement of humane attitudes for E
group than for C group fourth graders but
no significant difference for fifth graders.
On the generalization measure of empathy, posttest means for the E group were
significantly greater than means for the C
group regardless of grade level.
In a number of respects, this pattern of
findings closely parallels the results of an
earlier study by Ascione, Latham, and
Worthen (1985). As noted in the literature
review, in the earlier research, significant
EC group differences were found for
kindergarten and first grade children on
the attitude scale (PAS) but not for second
grade children. Although the current study
did not include kindergarten children,
comparisons were made between the
current and 1985 study, both of which
included first and second graders. In
examining the pattern of results, it was
clear that in every case, regardless of E or
C group, means from the current study
were displaced upward from means for the
1985 study. For example, C group first
graders in the 1985 study had a mean
PAS score of 37.8 and in the current study
the mean for the comparable group was
40.1. Similar upward displacements
were present for the other relevant
comparisons.
Although these differences between the
1985 and current PAS levels could be due,
in part, to differences between the sampies

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187

(the 1985 study included children from

larger urban areas whereas the current
studys children were from predominantly
rural and suburban areas, and the 1985
study had a higher proportion of minority
children [54.1 %] than the current study
[5%]), there is also the potential that
children in the current sample were more
aware and better educated in areas related
to humane and environmental concerns
than the children studied nearly six years
earlier. If this is the case, then scores on
the PAS may be approaching a ceiling,
especially for second graders, which
would make detecting EC differences
more difficult. As will be noted, ceiling
effects were not present with the IAS.
A related comparison was made by
examining the pattern of IAS means for
fourth and fifth graders from the 1985 and
current study. Again, all of the means from
the current study were displaced upward
from the 1985 means. Although in the
current study the fifth grade EC group
difference was not significant, the
difference was in the expected direction
and both means were greater than the E
and C means from the 1985 study. A
ceiling effect for the IAS is unlikely
because the maximum score is 144 (in
contrast, the maximum score on the PAS is
46).
One factor that may have reduced the
likelihood of finding a fifth grade EC
difference in the current study was the
unexpectedly high time allocation Control
group fifth grade teachers reported for
instruction related to humane education (a
mean of 20.5 hours or greater than half the
mean reported by Experimental group
teachers). This C group clearly exceeded
the authors expectations regarding the
amount of instruction related to humane
education one might expect to find in a
typical fifth grade classroom. Restricting
the content of C group teachers

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ANTHROZOS, Volume V, Number 3

instruction would have been unacceptable. It is fortunate that reports of

instructional content were obtained from
C teachers because the reported time
allocations may have been related to less
substantial EC group differences.
Generalization of Effects to
Human-Related Empathy
Because treatment effects on the PAS were
not statistically significant, generalization
to the B-P measure of empathy was not to
be expected and was not obtained. However, there was a clear generalization effect from animal-related attitudes (IAS) to
human-related empathy (B-I) for fourth
grade children in the E group. This result
lends support to the idea that childrens
compassion toward animals is related to
their empathy toward humans (Poresky
1990). The lack of evidence for this relation at the first and second grade may reflect a similar ceiling effect with the B-P
(scores for both the E and C groups approached the maximum score of 44) and at
the fifth grade it may reflect contamination
by C group teachers more than typical
instruction related to humane education.
General Relations between
Animal-Related Attitudes and
Human-Related Empathy
The significant positive correlations, moderate in size, that were found between the
attitude and empathy measures are encouraging. The Bryant measure is considered to be tapping a trait-like aspect of
empathy3 (as distinct from measures that
assess more context/situation specific empathy). That childrens attitudes about the
care and treatment of animals have significant relations with human-directed empathy is important for our understanding of
the role of companion animals in the lives

Frank R.Ascione

of children. In addition, these positive relations serve to tie research on companion

animals with the literature on the role of
empathy in childrens general moral development (e.g., Dunlap 1989; Poresky
1990).
Follow-Up Research Issues
One important question that must be
asked of humane education research is the
duration of the changes that occur as a
result of educational interventions. This issue has both research and practical significance because children may encounter
humane education sporadically rather
than consistently across their school years.
The great variation in instruction related to
humane education reported by control
group teachers in this study attests to this.
If program-enhanced attitudes are maintained across at least a school year, more
cost-effective programs could be developed (e.g., implementing concerted humane education at every other grade level)
especially in areas where resources are
limited.
A second issue is the relation between
having a pet and childrens attitudes
toward animals. Although pet ownership,
per se, was not found to be a significant
factor in this study, future research should
examine the quality of the relation
between child and pet (see examples of
this approach with children by Poresky
[1990], Poresky and Hendrix [1990], and
Poresky et al. [1987]; and with the elderly
by Siegel [1990]).
Finally, future research should directly
address the relationship between
childrens humane attitudes and their
actual treatment of companion and noncompanion animals. One area of focus
should be on children who may be at risk
for maltreating animals. Much of the
information available on this issue is

Childrens Attitudes

anecdotal or based primarily on

retrospective reports by adults. The author
is currently exploring the use of the
attitude scales incorporated in this project
with children who have engaged in animal
maltreatment, an issue of both historical
(Jersild 1954) and current interest
(National Advisory Mental Health Council
1990, section on Conduct Disorder). This
research would focus on the potential
screening use of these scales and their
value as pre-post measures of intervention
effectiveness.
It is hoped that continued research in
these areas will add to our knowledge
about childrens kindness and caring
toward animals.
NOTES
1.
2.

3.

Copies of the attitude scales are available from

the author.
There was great variability in the amount and
type of instruction related to humane education reported by Control group teachers. Some
mentioned visits to a local community zoo as
a field trip, units on endangered species, material in a basal reader on caring for pets, a
visit by the local Humane Society, science units
on the life cycle of animals, and units on biological classifications of animals. Others noted
animal-related content in childrens books used
in the classroom reading program. The one
teacher who reported spending 40 hours on
humane education materials described discussions of the ecosystem, Audubon materials,
and in-class dissection of owl droppings. Students in another class prepared for and attended the Teton Science School.
It should also be noted that higher mean empathy scores for older girls supports Eisenberg
and Lennons (1983) observation of gender
differences on self-report measures of empathy.

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