Socio-demographic factors associated with attitudes towards animals among first-year veterinary students.

Abstract Veterinarians are seen as experts in matters relating to animal welfare and ethics. However, relatively little is known about veterinary students’ attitudes and beliefs towards animals. To begin to address this gap, we surveyed the freshman class of veterinary students at a major U.S. veterinary college (n = 125) to examine their views on the ethics of various forms of animal use, their beliefs about the extent to which different species are capable of experiencing emotions (AKA ‘belief in animal mind’) and their beliefs about the degree to which humans and non-human animals are similar. The 20-item attitudes towards animal scale showed high internal consistency (a = 0.91, CI95 [95% Confidence Interval] 0.89, 0.93). Preliminary multiple regression analyses indicated female (vs male) students held more positive attitudes toward animals (b = 0.35, P = .005). Growing up in a household where animals were raised for food was associated with less positive attitudes (b = -0.30, P = .006). More liberal political ideology was associated with more positive attitudes towards animals (b = 0.17, P = < .0001). Female students also believed animals were capable of experiencing a greater diversity of emotions (b = 126.96, P = 0001). Neither socioeconomic status (P = 0.65) nor having a pet as a child (P = 0.12) were associated with attitudes towards animals or belief in animal mind. However, childhood pet ownership was associated with greater perceived similarity between human and non-human animals (b = 1.38, P = 0.01). Subsequent analyses will assess whether taking a required, introductory course in animal welfare has any effect on these measures. Eventually these data could provide baseline information for longitudinal analyses exploring how student attitudes and beliefs about animals are affected as they progress through the veterinary curriculum.