THE HUMAN-ANIMAL BOND: SOCIAL NETWORK COMPOSITIONS, ANIMAL COMPANIONS, AND HEALTH (original) (raw)
Journal Article
University of Massachusetts Amherst
, Amherst, Massachusetts,
United States
Search for other works by this author on:
Published:
08 November 2019
PDF Navbar Search Filter Mobile Enter search term Search
Abstract
Animal companionship has been found to be positively related to health, though less is known about the features of social networks that include animal companions and how these relate to health outcomes. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between social network composition including animal companionship and health. A mixed methods cross-sectional descriptive, correlation study design was used. Eighty-nine people age sixty-five and older, living in the community, managing multiple chronic conditions, participated in telephone interviews. Animal companionship was common (42.7%) among the sample (66% lived alone) with at least one animal companion (M=1.57, SD=.903) and associated with improved health function (IADL scores) (r=.234, p=.028). Animal companionship correlated positively with health (SF12 General Health Scores) (r=.210, p=.048). Animal companionship is an important feature in social networks of older people that influences health. Social supports maintain these relationships and the animal human bond.
This content is only available as a PDF.
© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
I agree to the terms and conditions. You must accept the terms and conditions.
Submit a comment
Name
Affiliations
Comment title
Comment
You have entered an invalid code
Thank you for submitting a comment on this article. Your comment will be reviewed and published at the journal's discretion. Please check for further notifications by email.
Citations
Views
Altmetric
Metrics
Total Views 274
0 Pageviews
274 PDF Downloads
Since 11/1/2019
| Month: | Total Views: |
|---|---|
| November 2019 | 9 |
| December 2019 | 11 |
| January 2020 | 5 |
| February 2020 | 1 |
| March 2020 | 3 |
| April 2020 | 5 |
| May 2020 | 8 |
| June 2020 | 21 |
| July 2020 | 7 |
| August 2020 | 2 |
| September 2020 | 7 |
| October 2020 | 1 |
| November 2020 | 5 |
| December 2020 | 6 |
| January 2021 | 2 |
| February 2021 | 10 |
| March 2021 | 5 |
| April 2021 | 11 |
| May 2021 | 5 |
| June 2021 | 11 |
| July 2021 | 1 |
| August 2021 | 5 |
| September 2021 | 6 |
| October 2021 | 6 |
| November 2021 | 4 |
| December 2021 | 1 |
| January 2022 | 6 |
| February 2022 | 6 |
| March 2022 | 3 |
| April 2022 | 14 |
| July 2022 | 9 |
| August 2022 | 4 |
| October 2022 | 6 |
| December 2022 | 4 |
| January 2023 | 8 |
| February 2023 | 4 |
| March 2023 | 3 |
| April 2023 | 3 |
| May 2023 | 2 |
| June 2023 | 1 |
| July 2023 | 2 |
| August 2023 | 3 |
| September 2023 | 4 |
| October 2023 | 1 |
| November 2023 | 1 |
| December 2023 | 1 |
| January 2024 | 1 |
| February 2024 | 1 |
| March 2024 | 3 |
| April 2024 | 8 |
| May 2024 | 7 |
| July 2024 | 2 |
| August 2024 | 5 |
| September 2024 | 4 |
×
Email alerts
Citing articles via
More from Oxford Academic