Understanding animal welfare in the UK and Cyprus: an investigation of individual differences underlying the behavior and its relation to humane education in children

The aim of this thesis was to create a new questionnaire measuring aspects of animal welfare that would address limitations in the literature and that could be used in the UK and Cyprus. Chapter 2 indicated that 57 items measuring aspects of animals abuse and attitudes towards animals, reduced to 13 items measuring negative and positive attitudes. This new scale was renamed the “Zalaf Animal Welfare Scale” and was used in all subsequent studies. Chapter 3 sought to include individual differences in the examination of the ZAWS with sensational interests. Main findings indicated the ZAWS was predicted by high Agreeableness (A) and high Conscientiousness (C), being residents of Cyprus, being younger in age and being non-hunters. Chapter 4 extended the findings by including measures of delinquency and morality in the analysis. Here, the ZAWS was predicted by low delinquency, high A, high C, and being residents of Cyprus, supporting past findings and those found in Chapter 3. The following chapter aimed to extend the previous findings to a sample of children around the Leicestershire area. The ZAWS was examined alongside knowledge of animals, treatment towards animals and personality. Knowledge of animals was a significant predictor of the ZAWS, and knowledge of animals was predicted by high scores on the ZAWS, being in Year 6, being female and being students of School 3. Treatment of animals and individual differences were not implicated in any of the analyses. The final chapter of this thesis employed an applied framework, utilising the ZAWS, knowledge of animals and treatment towards animals variables in the investigation of a humane education programme. This programme was successful in producing positive changes in the knowledge and attitudes of animals. The research studies in this thesis have extended past research as outlined in chapter 1 by investigating animal welfare in a general population sample as opposed to an offender sample, which has been the preferred sample of previous studies of this kind. Furthermore, the simultaneous studies in the UK and Cyprus are the first of their kind to provide information regarding animal welfare in Cyprus while also providing comparison data for the UK. Finally, and most significantly the humane education programme is the first to be carried out and assessed in the UK and has important implications for future education strategies in the UK school system. Findings indicated routes for future studies to take in expanding these results. Limitations and discussions of the findings are expressed throughout the chapters and in Chapter 7.