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The Relationship between Pet Ownership and Health Outcomes: German Longitudinal Evidence

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  • Bruce Headey
  • Markus M. Grabka

Abstract

Previous cross-sectional and intervention studies have suggested that pet owners may enjoy better physical and mental health than non-owners. This paper presents longitudinal evidence from a major national representative longitudinal survey: the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). Because the data are longitudinal, it is possible to assess the impact on health outcomes (measured by number of doctor visits) of longer term pet ownership, and also of gaining and losing a pet. An unexpected finding was that all health benefits appear to accrue to homeowners only. The main result, then, is that homeowners who have owned a pet for five years or more make significantly fewer doctor visits than non pet owners. However, losing a pet appears to impose immediate health costs. The results hold after controlling for other variables associated with use of health services, and also for health status at baseline. They still hold when a proxy for unobserved heterogeneity is included in equations.

Suggested Citation

  • Bruce Headey & Markus M. Grabka, 2004. "The Relationship between Pet Ownership and Health Outcomes: German Longitudinal Evidence," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 434, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp434
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rainer Winkelmann, 2004. "Health care reform and the number of doctor visits-an econometric analysis," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(4), pages 455-472.
    2. Elke Holst & Dean R. Lillard & Thomas A. DiPrete, 2001. "Proceedings of the 2000 Fourth International Conference of German Socio-Economic Panel Study Users (GSOEP 2000): Editorial Introduction," Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 70(1), pages 5-6.
    3. SOEP Group, 2001. "The German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) after More than 15 Years: Overview," Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 70(1), pages 7-14.
    4. Johannes Schwarze & Hanfried H. Andersen & Silke Anger, 2000. "Self-Rated Health and Changes in Self-Rated Health as Predictors of Mortality: First Evidence from German Panel Data," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 203, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    5. Bruce Headey, 1999. "Health Benefits and Health Cost Savings Due to Pets: Preliminary Estimates from an Australian National Survey," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 233-243, June.
    6. Ell, Kathleen, 1996. "Social networks, social support and coping with serious illness: The family connection," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 173-183, January.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Pets; Health; Homeowners; Longitudinal; Poisson regression;
    All these keywords.

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