Co-occurring exposure to interpersonal violence and animal-directed violence in childhood is associated with elevated adult suicidality, identifying animal cruelty exposure as a meaningful component of threat-based adversity that supports its inclusion in trauma history interviews and suicide risk assessments.
Key Findings
Methods
Latent class analysis identified three distinct adversity profiles among adults: Low Adversity, Exposure to Interpersonal Violence Only, and Exposure to Both Interpersonal Violence and Animal Cruelty.
Data were drawn from 1,072 adults who completed the Pets, Attachment, and Mental Health Study through Prolific
Threat-based adverse childhood experiences were assessed using items from the WHO ACE-IQ
Childhood exposure to animal cruelty was assessed using items adapted from the Pet Treatment Survey
Latent class analyses (LCA) were used to empirically derive the adversity profiles
Results
Adults in the Interpersonal Violence and Animal Cruelty class reported higher intensity of recent suicidal ideation compared with both the Low Adversity and Interpersonal Violence Only classes.
Suicidal ideation was measured using the Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation and the Suicidal Ideation Attributes Scale
The Bolck-Croon-Hagenaars method in Mplus was used to examine group differences
Psychological distress, social support, and sociodemographic variables were included as covariates
Differences were statistically significant compared to both other classes
Results
Adults in the Interpersonal Violence and Animal Cruelty class had greater odds of a lifetime suicide attempt compared with both the Low Adversity and Interpersonal Violence Only classes.
Lifetime suicide attempt was assessed using a dichotomous item
The elevated odds persisted after controlling for psychological distress, social support, and sociodemographic variables
No significant differences in lifetime suicide attempt were found between the Low Adversity and Interpersonal Violence Only classes
Results
There were no significant differences in any suicidality outcome between the Low Adversity class and the Interpersonal Violence Only class.
This null finding applied to both measures of suicidal ideation and to lifetime suicide attempt
This suggests that interpersonal violence exposure alone, without co-occurring animal cruelty exposure, was not associated with elevated suicidality relative to low adversity in this sample
The pattern implies that animal cruelty co-exposure may be the distinguishing factor in elevating suicidality risk
Results
Sexual and gender minority adults were more likely to be represented in the Interpersonal Violence and Animal Cruelty class compared to heterosexual adults and cisgender men.
This finding held relative to both heterosexual adults and cisgender men as reference groups
The result suggests differential exposure to co-occurring violence types by sexual orientation and gender identity
Sociodemographic variables were included as covariates in the outcome analyses
Results
Black participants were more likely to be represented in the Interpersonal Violence and Animal Cruelty class compared to White participants.
This racial disparity in adversity class membership was identified relative to White participants as the reference group
The finding suggests differential exposure to co-occurring interpersonal and animal-directed violence by race
This pattern has potential implications for understanding racial disparities in trauma exposure and downstream mental health outcomes
Background
Childhood exposure to animal-directed violence frequently co-occurs with interpersonal violence and has been an overlooked aspect of childhood adversity.
The paper identifies this co-occurrence as an understudied gap in the literature
Prior to this study, the implications of this co-occurrence for adult suicidality had not been investigated
Animal cruelty exposure was adapted from the Pet Treatment Survey for measurement purposes
The authors argue the findings support inclusion of animal cruelty exposure in trauma history interviews and suicide risk assessments
What This Means
This research suggests that children who witness or experience both violence against people and violence against animals face a distinctly higher risk of suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts as adults compared to people who experienced interpersonal violence alone or low levels of adversity. Using survey data from over 1,000 adults, researchers identified three groups based on their childhood adversity experiences and found that only the group exposed to both types of violence showed elevated suicidality — the group exposed to interpersonal violence but not animal cruelty looked similar to the low-adversity group on suicide outcomes.
The study also found that certain populations — including sexual and gender minority individuals and Black individuals — were disproportionately represented in the group with combined violence exposure, suggesting these communities may face heightened and more complex forms of childhood adversity. These findings held even after accounting for current psychological distress, social support, and other demographic factors, pointing to childhood animal cruelty exposure as a meaningful and independent marker of risk.
This research suggests that animal cruelty witnessed or experienced in childhood is not merely incidental but represents a distinct and important component of traumatic adversity. Clinicians conducting trauma assessments or suicide risk evaluations may benefit from asking about childhood exposure to animal violence, as this information could help identify individuals who need more intensive support. The findings also highlight the importance of addressing the links between animal abuse and family violence from a public health and child welfare perspective.
Shelby E. McDonald, Camie A. Tomlinson, Stacey Freedenthal, C. L. Bright, Amelia Malone, Nicole Nicotera, et al.. (2026). Childhood exposure to interpersonal and animal-directed violence: adversity profiles and adult suicidality. Frontiers in Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1771930