Stressful life events and use of physician services among the elderly: The moderating role of pet ownership.
Abstract
The physician utilization behavior of 938 Medicare enrollees in a health maintenance organization was prospectively followed for 1 year. With demographic characteristics and health status at baseline controlled for, respondents who owned pets reported fewer doctor contacts over the 1-year period than respondents who did not own pets. Furthermore, pets seemed to help their owners in times of stress. The accumulation of prebaseline stressful life events was associated with increased doctor contacts during the study year for respondents without pets. This relationship did not emerge for pet owners. Owners of dogs, in particular, were buffered from the impact of stressful life events on physician utilization. Additional analyses showed that dog owners in comparison to owners of other pets spent more time with their pets and felt that their pets were more important to them. Thus, dogs more than other pets provided their owners with companionship and an object of attachment.
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Many studies have demonstrated the association between pet ownership and cardiovascular health, and dog owners appear to have a significantly greater chance of survival after a heart attack compared to people without pets.
“Many studies have demonstrated the association between pet ownership and cardiovascular health and dog owners appear to have a significantly greater chance of survival after a heart attack compared to people without pets [25,26,27].”
From A One Health Perspective on the Human-Companion Animal Relationship with Emphasis on Zoonotic Aspects. (2020) · cites this paper as [27]
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“Such studies, some of them large surveys with thousands of participants, were conducted by Garrity et al. (1989); Raina et al. (1999); Parslow et al. (2005); Siegel (1990); Stallones et al. (1990), and Winefield et al. (2008).”
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- Authors
- Siegel, J. M.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Corresponding author
- Siegel, Judith M.
- Venue
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
- Published
- 1990
- Volume
- 58
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1081-1086
- ISSN
- 0022-3514 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1315
- OpenAlex
- W2169747373
- Cited by
- 483
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 26 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 22 · 2016: 22 · 2015: 20 · 2014: 14 · 2013: 19 · 2012: 14
- FWCI
- 3.30
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Aging (1R01 AGO 5188-01A1)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Human-Animal Interaction Studies
- Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Keywords
- life events, physician utilization, older adults, pet ownership, dogs, moderating effect, health maintenance organizations, Medicare enrollees, companionship, pet attachment, stress buffering
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Psychological, Aged, Human-Animal Bond, California, Depression, Female, Health Maintenance Organizations, Health Services for the Aged, Humans, Life Change Events, Male, Object Attachment, Physician-Patient Relations, Referral and Consultation
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