Association of the Environmental Attitudes “Preservation” and “Utilization” with Pro-Animal Attitudes

The relevance of environmental attitudes is obvious and attitudes towards farm and companion animals and animal welfare in medical research are an important aspect of education. However, both have rarely been linked with each other, and animal attitudes are only sparsely represented within environmental education assessment instruments. Linking these two aspects was the main aim of the present study. The Animal Attitude Scale (AAS), the Intermediate Attitude Scale (IAS), and environmental attitudes based on the 2-MEV-model were used. The 2-MEV model is made of two distinct aspects: preservation and utilization of nature. This relationship between pro-animal attitudes and preservation and utilization has been assessed while controlling for pet ownership, meat consumption, gender and grade level. These covariates are necessary because they have been identified in previous research. Five hundred and forty-three pupils from two different schools in Leipzig, Germany participated in this study. There was a significant influence of gender and grade but not of pet ownership on environmental attitudes. Girls showed higher positive attitudes, and preservation decreased with an increasing grade. Animal attitudes (both AAS and IAS) correlated with > 0.4 with the two environmental attitudes preservation and utilization. It is therefore concluded that environmental attitudes and animal attitudes are closely related constructs.