Spiritual beliefs regarding nature predict meat-avoidance motives

Against the backdrop of multiple reasons for avoiding meat (animal welfare, environmental degradation, and health concerns), people vary in their attitudes toward meat and meat avoidance, as well as in the underlying psychological characteristics. The present study investigated the extent to which ecospirituality (spiritual beliefs regarding nature and human–nature connectedness) predicts meat-avoidance motives, using previously validated measures. A sample of 244 UK-based individuals completed a measure of ecospirituality and a measure of meat-avoidance motives pertaining to animal rights, the environment, and health. They also completed measures of meat-eating justification (endorsing the view that meat is natural, necessary, normal, and nice) and mental-capacity dichotomization (ascribing lower mental capacities to "food" animals than to "nonfood" animals). Ecospirituality predicted all three meat-avoidance motives while controlling for meat-eating justification and mental-capacity dichotomization. These results add to the literature on the correlates of attitudes toward meat and meat avoidance and have implications for interventions.