A Reflexive Thematic Analysis of Partners’ Perceived Motivations of Their Partner’s Animal Abuse

Through qualitative open-text responses, the present study sought to understand participants’ perceptions of their current or most recent partner’s motivations for animal mistreatment. Animal abuse is a pervasive and persistent form of violence, and research demonstrates a link between animal abuse and human abuse. Further, understanding underlying motivations for animal abuse is integral to decreasing the prevalence of both animal and human abuse. The current study provides a unique and necessary perspective from perceptions of partners of those who have perpetrated animal maltreatment. The authors used reflexive thematic analysis and identified five main themes from participants’ (n = 333) qualitative responses: poor mental health/trauma, power and control over partner, disciplining animal, personality traits/characteristics, and power and control over animal. Further, 22 subthemes were identified from responses. The most common overarching theme was poor mental health/trauma, and emotion regulation was the most identified subtheme amongst all 22. The second most identified overarching theme was power and control over partner, where punish/hurt partner was the third most common subtheme. Further, disciplining the animal was the third most identified theme, where unwanted behavior was the second most prevalent subtheme. Examples of other, less prevalent subthemes include asserting dominance, lack of empathy, forgetting, past trauma, and drugs/alcohol. These findings largely align with extant literature and highlight a need to address underlying psychological distress or maladaptive coping techniques of those who may be at risk to abuse animals. Additional implications pertaining to assessment of violence, education, empathy deficits, and legal protections are discussed.