ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to explore the differences in anxiety and depressive symptoms between older adult pet owners and non-pet owners after accounting for various correlates. Research findings on the anxiety-relieving and antidepressant effects of late-life pet ownership are mixed and limited. This may be due in part to various characteristics that impact the likelihood of owning a pet. Propensity score matching was used to pair 169 pet owners with 169 non-pet owners aged 70–91 years who participated in the University of Alabama at Birmingham Study of Aging. One set of propensity scores was created using age, sex, race, rurality, marital status, and income, as well as self-reported health, difficulty with activities of daily living, and difficulty with instrumental activities of daily living. A second set of scores was created using age, sex, race, rurality, marital status, and income. Multiple linear regression analyses were then used to explore the relation between pet ownership status and anxiety or depressive symptoms, controlling for the other symptoms. Pet ownership was significantly associated with lower self-reported anxiety symptoms (β = –0.14) but not depressive symptoms (β = –0.03) in the data matched without health variables. When propensity score matching included health variables, pet ownership was related to neither symptoms of anxiety (β = –0.08) nor depression (β = 0.05). These results suggest that owning a pet in later life is related to fewer anxiety symptoms, over and above the impact of depressive symptoms, even after accounting for various demographic and economic covariates. However, general and functional health appear to be critical to this relation, but the direction of this relation could not be determined from our analyses (i.e., it is not clear whether the relation between pet ownership and anxiety symptoms is confounded by, mediates, or is mediated by health). This study is the first large-scale analysis to find a significant relation between pet ownership and fewer anxiety symptoms in older adults.

摘要

本研究的目的是在考虑各种相关因素后，探讨老年宠物主人和非宠物主人在焦虑和抑郁症状方面的差异。关于晚年养宠物的焦虑缓解和抗抑郁作用的研究结果喜忧参半且有限。这可能部分是由于影响拥有宠物的可能性的各种特征。倾向得分匹配用于将 169 名宠物主人与 169 名年龄在 70-91 岁之间的非宠物主人配对，他们参加了阿拉巴马大学伯明翰分校的老龄化研究。使用年龄、性别、种族、农村、婚姻状况和收入，以及自我报告的健康状况、日常生活活动困难和日常生活工具活动困难来创建一组倾向评分。第二组分数是使用年龄创建的，性别、种族、农村、婚姻状况和收入。然后使用多元线性回归分析来探索宠物所有权状态与焦虑或抑郁症状之间的关系，控制其他症状。养宠物与较低的自我报告的焦虑症状显着相关（β = –0.14) 但没有抑郁症状 ( β = –0.03) 在没有健康变量的情况下匹配。当倾向得分匹配包括健康变量时，养宠物与焦虑症状 ( β = –0.08) 和抑郁症状 ( β= 0.05)。这些结果表明，即使在考虑了各种人口统计和经济协变量之后，在晚年拥有一只宠物与更少的焦虑症状有关，甚至超过了抑郁症状的影响。然而，总体健康和功能健康似乎对这种关系至关重要，但这种关系的方向无法从我们的分析中确定（即，尚不清楚养宠物与焦虑症状之间的关系是否被混淆、介导或由健康介导）。这项研究是第一个发现养宠物与老年人焦虑症状减少之间存在显着关系的大规模分析。