Research in Human-Animal Interaction
Journal Social Indicators Research
Issue Volume 80, Number 2 / January, 2007 Pages 297-311
Bruce Headey
Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic & Social Research, University of Melbourne, 3052 Parkville, Australia
Markus M. Grabka
SOEP, German Institute of Economic Research (DIW), Koenigin-Luise Str. 5, 14195 Berlin, Germany
Accepted: 10 November 2005 Published online: 11 May 2006
The German and Australian longitudinal surveys analysed here are the first national representative surveys to show that (1) people who continuously own a pet are the healthiest group and (2) people who cease to have a pet or never had one are less healthy. Most previous studies which have claimed that pets confer health benefits were cross-sectional. So they were open to the objection that owners may have been healthier in the first place, rather than becoming healthier due to owning a pet. In both countries the data show that pet owners make about 15% fewer annual doctor visits than non-owners. The relationship remains statistically significant after controlling for gender, age, marital status, income and other variables associated with health. The German data come from the German Socio-Economic Panel in which respondents have been interviewed every year since 1984 (N = 9723). Australian data come from the Australian National Social Science Survey 2001 (N = 1246).