Pet Possession and Well-Being in Elderly Women

The purpose of this article is to identify factors related to subjective well-being in the elderly. Structured interviews were conducted with 1073 white married women aged 65-75 living in Maryland in order to examine the role of pet ownership as an independent predictor of perceived happiness in elderly women. Controlling for sociodemographic, health status, and social interaction factors, the simple presence of pets in the households was not related to happiness. However, further multivariate analyses revealed that the relationship between pet ownership and happiness was complex, dependent upon the nature of the animal-human interaction as well as the social context in which the women lived. Preliminary findings indicate: (1) a larger percentage of women who are not very attached to their pets are unhappy, compared to women who are very attached to their pets or even those with no pets at all; and (2) the relationship between pet ownership and happiness is dependent on socioeconomic background, with pet ownership being associated with greater happiness among those of high SES but with less happiness among those of lower SES. The importance of specifying the conditions under which pet ownership is related to psychological well-being is emphasized.