Siegel J M
Division of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education, School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles 90024-1772.
J Pers Soc Psychol. 1990 Jun;58(6):1081-6. doi: 10.1037//0022-3514.58.6.1081.
The physician utilization behavior of 938 Medicare enrollees in a health maintenance organization was prospectively followed for 1 year. With demographic characteristics and health status at baseline controlled for, respondents who owned pets reported fewer doctor contacts over the 1-year period than respondents who did not own pets. Furthermore, pets seemed to help their owners in times of stress. The accumulation of prebaseline stressful life events was associated with increased doctor contacts during the study year for respondents without pets. This relationship did not emerge for pet owners. Owners of dogs, in particular, were buffered from the impact of stressful life events on physician utilization. Additional analyses showed that dog owners in comparison to owners of other pets spent more time with their pets and felt that their pets were more important to them. Thus, dogs more than other pets provided their owners with companionship and an object of attachment.
对健康维护组织中938名医疗保险参保人的医生使用行为进行了为期1年的前瞻性跟踪研究。在控制了基线时的人口统计学特征和健康状况后，拥有宠物的受访者在1年期间的医生就诊次数比没有宠物的受访者少。此外，宠物似乎在主人压力大的时候能给予帮助。对于没有宠物的受访者，基线前应激性生活事件的累积与研究年度内医生就诊次数的增加有关。而这种关系在宠物主人中并未出现。特别是狗主人，在应激性生活事件对医生使用的影响方面得到了缓冲。进一步分析表明，与其他宠物主人相比，狗主人与宠物相处的时间更多，并且觉得他们的宠物对他们更重要。因此，狗比其他宠物更能为其主人提供陪伴和情感寄托对象。
