Examination of Children's Thoughts towards Animals in Terms of Various Variables

Abstract: This study was conducted to examine children’s thoughts about animals in terms of various variables. The study included 411 children attending 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades in Ankara. The data were collected with a questionnaire form prepared by the researchers. In the questionnaire, along with questions about demographic information of children, there are seven items to determine children’s thoughts about animals. The chi-square test was applied to examine the group differences according to the variables of gender, class, and whether or not to have a pet over the data obtained from the items of the Thoughts Towards Animals Questionnaire. As a result of the study, it was determined that girls were significantly more undecided than boys in the item “I think equestrian sport is important in terms of communicating with animals” and in the item “I like subjects related to animals”, children attending 6th-8th grades tended to disagree and remain undecided. Moreover, in the item “I think that animals on the street should be approached carefully”, it was found that the children attending the 4th and 5th grades tended to disagree, and in the items “I like the subjects related to animals, I think that animals should be adopted, I think that street animals have the right to live in proper conditions”, it was determined that the children who did not have pets tended to be undecided and only agreed with the related items, while the children who had pets tended to completely agree.