Emerging Attitudes towards Nonhuman Animals among Spanish University Students

摘要

Attitudes towards nonhuman animals remain an interesting area of study, especially in non-English-speaking countries in which little research has been conducted. The present paper examines the attitudes of Spanish university students (n = 481) towards 21 nonhuman animal uses and practices as well as attitudes towards human-animal similarities. To determine which variables might underlie those attitudes, this paper analyzes individual correlations and differences based on 11 psychosocial-demographic factors. Highlights from the results are as follows. First, not all animal uses and not all human-animal attributes are perceived equally. Second, there are minor but significant associations between attitudes towards animals and psychosocial-demographic factors. Lastly, the study identifies three clusters of tendencies of animal attitudes: "reckless-speciesist" (28.6%), "caress-speciesist" (45.8%), and "non-speciesist" (25.6%). The findings suggest a need to segment the target audience, to differentiate between goals, and to adapt messages accordingly when designing more effective strategies intended to foster a pro-animal ecosystem.