Demographic and contextual factors as moderators of the relationship between pet ownership and health

Figures & data

Table 1. Weighted descriptive statistics/frequencies for demographic/contextual and health indicators, stratified by pet ownership status.

	Pet Owners	Non-Pet Owners	Dog Owners	Non-Dog Owners	Cat Owners	Non-Cat Owners
Demographic/Contextual Indicators	n = 750	n = 517	n = 504	n = 763	n = 356	n = 911
	M(SD)	M(SD)	M(SD)	M(SD)	M(SD)	M(SD)
Household Income*	13.27 (4.79)	13.10 (4.57)	13.51 (4.66)	12.99 (4.71)	13.03 (4.96)	13.26 (4.59)
Gender	n (%)	n (%)	n (%)	n (%)	n (%)	n (%)
Female	407 (54.3%)	247 (47.8%)	277 (55%)	377 (49.4%)	188 (52.8%)	466 (51.1%)
Male	343 (45.7%)	270 (52.2%)	227 (45%)	386 (50.6%)	168 (47.2%)	446 (48.9%)
Race/Ethnicity
White, Non-Hispanic	514 (68.5%)	286 (55.2%)	342 (67.9%)	458 (60.0%)	271 (76.1%)	529 (58.1%)
Black, Non-Hispanic	59 (7.9%)	91 (17.6%)	36 (7.1%)	114 (14.9%)	25 (7.0%)	124 (13.6%)
Other/Multi-racial, Non-Hispanic	53 (7.1%)	56 (10.8%)	36 (7.1%)	73 (9.6%)	23 (6.5%)	86 (9.5%)
Hispanic	124 (16.5%)	85 (16.4%)	90 (17.9%)	118 (15.5%)	37 (10.4%)	171 (18.8%)
Education
Less than High School	91 (12.1%)	44 (8.5%)	59 (11.7%)	75 (9.8%)	37 (10.4%)	97 (10.6%)
High School	215 (28.7%)	144 (27.8%)	152 (30.2%)	206 (27.0%)	112 (31.5%)	247 (27.1%)
Some College	223 (29.7%)	129 (24.9%)	147 (29.2%)	205 (26.9%)	111 (31.3%)	240 (26.3%)
Bachelor's degree +	221 (29.5%)	201 (38.8%)	145 (28.8%)	277 (36.3%)	95 (26.8%)	327 (35.9%)
Housing Type
One family, detached	563 (75.1%)	334 (64.6%)	414 (82.1%)	484 (63.4%)	248 (69.9%)	649 (71.2%)
One family, attached	54 (7.2%)	52 (10.1%)	32 (6.3%)	74 (9.7%)	27 (7.6%)	79 (8.7%)
Multi-family building	96 (12.8%)	122 (23.6%)	30 (6.0%)	188 (24.6%)	60 (16.9%)	158 (17.3%)
Mobile home, boat, car	37 (4.9%)	9 (1.7%)	28 (5.6%)	18 (2.4%)	20 (5.6%)	25 (2.7%)
Urbanicity
Urban	253 (33.8%)	200 (38.7%)	158 (31.4%)	295 (38.7%)	117 (32.9%)	336 (36.9%)
Rural	168 (22.5%)	53 (10.3%)	133 (26.4%)	88 (11.5%)	90 (25.3%)	131 (14.4%)
Suburban	327 (43.7%)	264 (51.1%)	212 (42.1%)	380 (49.8%)	149 (41.9%)	443 (48.7%
Marital Status
Married	408 (54.4%)	266 (51.5%)	287 (56.9%)	387 (50.8%)	190 (53.2%)	485 (53.2%)
Widowed	29 (3.9%)	31 (6.0%)	24 (4.8%)	36 (4.7%)	14 (3.9%)	47 (5.2%)
Divorced	71 (9.5%)	49 (9.5%)	45 (8.9%)	75 (9.8%)	35 (9.8%)	85 (9.3%)
Separated	14 (1.9%)	7 (1.4%)	8 (1.6%)	13 (1.7%)	9 (2.5%)	12 (1.3%)
Never married	167 (22.3%)	141 (27.3%)	115 (22.8%)	193 (25.3%)	80 (22.4%)	229 (25.1%)
Living with partner	61 (8.1%)	23 (4.4%)	25 (5.0%)	58 (7.6%)	29 (8.1%)	54 (5.9%)
Children
Children	212 (28.3%)	111 (21.5%)	159 (31.5%)	165 (21.6%)	91 (25.6%)	233 (25.6%)
No Children	538 (71.7%)	406 (78.5%)	345 (68.5%)	598 (78.4%)	265 (74.4%)	678 (74.4%)
Employment
Employed	532 (71%)	294 (56.8%)	361 (71.5%)	465 (60.9%)	247 (69.4%)	579 (63.6%)
Unemployed	217 (29%)	224 (43.2%)	144 (28.5%)	298 (39.1%)	109 (30.6%)	332 (30.6%)
Health Indicators	M(SD)	M(SD)	M(SD)	M(SD)	M(SD)	M(SD)
Health Status	2.60 (0.98)	2.54 (0.99)	2.58 (0.99)	2.58 (0.99)	2.66 (1.00)	2.55 (0.98)
Body Mass Index	28.48 (6.43)	28.03 (6.45)	28.61 (6.30)	28.09 (6.53)	28.53 (6.52)	28.20 (6.41)
Physical activity	3.26 (1.22)	3.17 (1.20)	3.35 (1.21)	3.14 (1.21)	3.20 (1.25)	3.23 (1.20)
	n (%)	n (%)	n (%)	n (%)	n (%)	n (%)
Physical Disability	94 (12.8%)	63 (12.5%)	62 (12.5%)	95 (12.7%)	51 (14.6%)	105 (11.8%)
Cognitive Disability	65 (8.8%)	25 (5.0%)	37 (7.5%)	53 (7.1%)	40 (11.4%)	50 (5.6%)
Anxiety Disorder	92 (12.7%)	44 (8.8%)	58 (11.8%)	79 (10.8%)	47 (13.6%)	89 (10.1%)
Depression	132 (18.1%)	49 (9.8%)	83 (16.9%)	98 (13.4%)	66 (19.1%)	115 (13.1%)

*Note: Income measured as 21 discrete categories treated as continuous data; an income level of 13 corresponds to $60,000-$75,000 USD.

Table 2. Weighted logistic regression results for demographic/contextual variables predicting pet ownership, dog ownership, and cat ownership.

	Pet Ownership						Dog Ownership						Cat Ownership
	B	S.E.	p	OR	95% C.I. for OR		B	S.E.	p	OR	95% C.I. for OR		B	S.E.	p	OR	95% C.I. for OR
Household Income	<.001	0.02	0.97	1.00	0.97-1.03		0.01	0.02	0.53	1.01	0.98-1.04		0.01	0.02	0.78	1.01	0.97-1.04
Gender
Female*
Male	0.30	0.13	0.02	1.35	1.05-1.72		0.23	0.13	0.08	1.25	0.98-1.61		0.07	0.13	0.58	1.08	0.83-1.40
Race/Ethnicity
White, Non-Hispanic*			<.001						0.016						<.001
Black, Non-Hispanic	-1.00	0.20	<.001	0.37	0.25-0.55		-0.71	0.23	0.00	0.49	0.32-0.77		-0.95	0.25	<.001	0.39	0.24-0.62
Other/Multi-racial, Non-Hispanic	-0.50	0.22	0.02	0.61	0.40-0.93		-0.17	0.23	0.47	0.84	0.54-1.33		-0.58	0.25	0.02	0.56	0.34-0.93
Hispanic	-0.46	0.18	0.01	0.63	0.44-0.91		-0.03	0.19	0.89	0.98	0.68-1.40		-1.03	0.22	<.001	0.36	0.24-0.55
Education
Less than high school*			<.001						0.04						0.002
High School	-0.44	0.24	0.06	0.64	0.40-1.02		-0.05	0.23	0.82	0.95	0.61-1.49		-0.12	0.24	0.63	0.89	0.55-1.43
Some College	-0.35	0.24	0.14	0.70	0.44-1.13		-0.14	0.23	0.56	0.87	0.55-1.38		-0.08	0.25	0.76	0.93	0.57-1.50
Bachelor's degree +	-0.93	0.25	<.001	0.39	0.24-0.64		-0.50	0.24	0.04	0.61	0.38-0.98		-0.69	0.26	0.01	0.50	0.30-0.84
Housing Type
One family detached*			<.001						<.001						0.27
One family attached	-0.21	0.22	0.34	0.81	0.52-1.25		-0.43	0.24	0.07	0.65	0.41-1.04		0.21	0.25	0.39	1.24	0.76-2.02
Multi-family building	-0.77	0.18	<.001	0.46	0.33-0.66		-1.59	0.22	<.001	0.20	0.13-0.32		0.17	0.20	0.38	1.19	0.81-1.74
Mobile home	0.89	0.41	0.03	2.43	1.08-5.45		0.58	0.34	0.08	1.79	0.93-3.47		0.58	0.33	0.08	1.79	0.94-3.40
Urbanicity
Urban*			0.001						<.001						0.02
Rural	0.45	0.21	0.03	1.56	1.04-2.35		0.49	0.19	0.01	1.64	1.12-2.39		0.39	0.20	0.048	1.48	1.00-2.17
Suburban	-0.25	0.14	0.08	0.78	0.59-1.03		-0.29	0.15	0.04	0.75	0.56-0.99		-0.12	0.16	0.42	0.88	0.65-1.20
Marital Status
Married*			0.064						0.78						0.31
Widowed	-0.37	0.30	0.22	0.69	0.39-1.24		0.16	0.30	0.60	1.17	0.65-2.13		-0.37	0.34	0.27	0.69	0.36-1.34
Divorced	0.05	0.23	0.83	1.05	0.67-1.65		0.05	0.24	0.82	1.05	0.67-1.67		-0.02	0.24	0.94	0.98	0.61-1.58
Separated	0.37	0.50	0.45	1.45	0.55-3.84		0.01	0.50	0.98	1.01	0.38-2.69		0.84	0.49	0.09	2.31	0.89-5.99
Never married	-0.03	0.16	0.85	0.97	0.71-1.33		0.14	0.16	0.39	1.15	0.84-1.59		-0.06	0.17	0.73	0.94	0.67-1.32
Living with partner	0.77	0.29	0.01	2.16	1.23-3.77		-0.29	0.28	0.31	0.75	0.43-1.30		0.27	0.26	0.30	1.31	0.78-2.20
Children
No Children*
Children	0.31	0.15	0.04	1.36	1.02-1.82		0.49	0.15	<.001	1.63	1.23-2.17		0.06	0.15	0.72	1.06	0.78-1.43
Employment
Unemployed*
Employed	0.85	0.14	<.001	2.34	1.77-3.10		0.66	0.15	<.001	1.94	1.45-2.58		0.41	0.15	0.01	1.50	1.11-2.03

Note: *indicates reference group category; OR = odds ratio

Table 3. Weighted hierarchical regression models for pet ownership, dog ownership, and cat ownership predicting continuous health indicators.

	B	SE	β	t	p	95% CI	f2
Health Status
Model 1 - Pet Ownership, no covariates	0.06	0.06	0.03	1.03	0.30	-0.05-0.17	0.001
Model 2 - Pet Ownership with covariates	0.09	0.06	0.04	1.49	0.14	-0.03-0.20	0.002
Model 1 - Dog Ownership, no covariates	-0.01	0.06	0.00	-0.11	0.91	-0.12-0.11	0.000
Model 2 - Dog Ownership with covariates	0.04	0.06	0.02	0.73	0.47	-0.07-0.16	0.000
Model 1 - Cat Ownership, no covariates	0.12	0.06	0.05	1.90	0.06	0.00-0.24	0.003
Model 2 - Cat Ownership with covariates	0.10	0.06	0.05	1.60	0.11	-0.02-0.22	0.002
BMI
Model 1 - Pet Ownership, no covariates	0.46	0.38	0.04	1.22	0.22	-0.28-1.21	0.001
Model 2 - Pet Ownership with covariates	0.32	0.39	0.02	0.81	0.42	-0.46-1.09	0.001
Model 1 - Dog Ownership, no covariates	0.54	0.38	0.04	1.43	0.15	-0.20-1.29	0.002
Model 2 - Dog Ownership with covariates	0.39	0.40	0.03	0.98	0.33	-0.39-1.17	0.001
Model 1 - Cat Ownership, no covariates	0.32	0.41	0.02	0.78	0.44	-0.49-1.12	0.000
Model 2 - Cat Ownership with covariates	0.20	0.41	0.01	0.48	0.63	-0.61-1.01	0.000
Physical activity
Model 1 - Pet Ownership, no covariates	0.09	0.07	0.04	1.26	0.21	-0.05-0.23	0.001
Model 2 - Pet Ownership with covariates	0.02	0.07	0.01	0.28	0.78	-0.12-0.16	0.000
Model 1 - Dog Ownership, no covariates	0.21	0.07	0.09	3.03	<0.001	0.07-0.35	0.007
Model 2 - Dog Ownership with covariates	0.16	0.07	0.07	2.28	0.02	0.02-0.30	0.004
Model 1 - Cat Ownership, no covariates	-0.03	0.08	-0.01	-0.45	0.66	-0.18-0.12	0.000
Model 2 - Cat Ownership with covariates	-0.07	0.08	-0.03	-0.94	0.35	-0.22-0.08	0.001

Note: Model 1 includes pet/dog/cat ownership as single predictors, Model 2 includes covariates. Full regression parameters for all covariates are included in the supplementary materials.

Table 4. Weighted logistic regression models for pet ownership, dog ownership, and cat ownership predicting dichotomous health indicators.

	B	S.E.	Wald χ^2	p	OR	95% CI
Physical Disability
Model 1 - Pet Ownership, no covariates	0.03	0.17	0.02	0.88	1.03	0.73-1.44
Model 2 - Pet Ownership with covariates	0.22	0.20	1.19	0.28	1.24	0.84-1.82
Model 1 - Dog Ownership, no covariates	-0.02	0.18	0.01	0.91	0.98	0.70-1.38
Model 2 - Dog Ownership with covariates	0.18	0.20	0.81	0.37	1.20	0.81-1.78
Model 1 - Cat Ownership, no covariates	0.25	0.18	1.82	0.18	1.28	0.89-1.84
Model 2 - Cat Ownership with covariates	0.25	0.20	1.60	0.21	1.29	0.87-1.90
Cognitive Disability
Model 1 - Pet Ownership, no covariates	0.62	0.24	6.40	0.01	1.85	1.15-2.98
Model 2 - Pet Ownership with covariates	0.76	0.27	7.91	0.01	2.13	1.26-3.62
Model 1 - Dog Ownership, no covariates	0.06	0.22	0.06	0.80	1.06	0.68-1.64
Model 2 - Dog Ownership with covariates	0.32	0.26	1.58	0.21	1.38	0.84-2.27
Model 1 - Cat Ownership, no covariates	0.75	0.22	11.47	<0.001	2.13	1.37-3.29
Model 2 - Cat Ownership with covariates	0.70	0.24	8.90	0.003	2.02	1.27-3.21
Anxiety Disorder
Model 1 - Pet Ownership, no covariates	0.40	0.19	4.36	0.04	1.50	1.03-2.19
Model 2 - Pet Ownership with covariates	0.47	0.21	5.05	0.03	1.60	1.06-2.41
Model 1 - Dog Ownership, no covariates	0.10	0.18	0.32	0.58	1.11	0.77-1.59
Model 2 - Dog Ownership with covariates	0.36	0.20	3.07	0.08	1.43	0.96-2.13
Model 1 - Cat Ownership, no covariates	0.34	0.19	3.06	0.08	1.40	0.96-2.04
Model 2 - Cat Ownership with covariates	0.30	0.20	2.26	0.13	1.35	0.91-2.00
Depression
Model 1 - Pet Ownership, no covariates	0.71	0.18	15.79	<.001	2.04	1.43-2.89
Model 2 - Pet Ownership with covariates	0.80	0.19	16.83	<.001	2.22	1.52-3.24
Model 1 - Dog Ownership, no covariates	0.28	0.16	2.95	0.09	1.32	0.96-1.82
Model 2 - Dog Ownership with covariates	0.50	0.18	7.59	0.01	1.65	1.15-2.34
Model 1 - Cat Ownership, no covariates	0.44	0.17	6.81	0.01	1.56	1.12-2.17
Model 2 - Cat Ownership with covariates	0.40	0.18	5.19	0.02	1.49	1.06-2.11

Note: Model 1 includes pet/dog/cat ownership as single predictors, Model 2 includes covariates. Full regression parameters for all covariates are included in the supplementary materials. OR = odds ratio

Data availability statement

The design and secondary data analysis plan for this study were preregistered on the Open Science Framework, and all analysis code is publicly available: https://osf.io/3ctdk/?view_only=cb0ea06867c348ad9f7facf92e93d098. We report deviations from our preregistered protocol in the Supplementary Materials. Due to the proprietary nature of the Ipsos data set and the nature of some data sources, the data set is not currently stored on a public repository and requires IRB approval for access. The dataset is available through protected access from the Tufts University research team. More information on the dataset is available at: https://equityresearch.tufts.edu/the-data/