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. 2024 Aug 1;7(8):e2424810.
doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.24810.

Pet Attachment and Anxiety and Depression in Middle-Aged and Older Women

Magdalena Zebrowska  1   2 , Susanne Strohmaier  2 , Curtis Huttenhower  3   4   5   6 , A Heather Eliassen  1   7   8 , Oana A Zeleznik  1 , Carri Westgarth  9 , Tianyi Huang  1 , Francine Laden  1   7   10 , Jaime E Hart  1   10 , Bernard Rosner  1   3 , Ichiro Kawachi  11 , Jorge E Chavarro  1   7   8 , Olivia I Okereke  1   7   12 , Eva S Schernhammer  1   2   7
Affiliations

Pet Attachment and Anxiety and Depression in Middle-Aged and Older Women

Magdalena Zebrowska et al. JAMA Netw Open. .

Abstract

Importance: Understanding how attachment to pets can alleviate depression and anxiety offers valuable insights for developing preventive and therapeutic strategies, particularly for those with insecure attachment styles from childhood trauma.

Objective: To determine if a close bond with a pet is associated with reduced depression and anxiety, especially among women who experienced childhood abuse.

Design, setting, and participants: This cross-sectional study involved women who voluntarily enrolled in the Mind Body Study (MBS), a substudy of the Nurses' Health Study II (NHS2) focusing on psychosocial factors. Women reporting childhood abuse were oversampled to capture their psychosocial distress in adulthood. MBS participants were invited to complete comprehensive online questionnaires, which were administered twice (March 2013 and February 2014).

Exposure: Pet attachment measured by Lexington Attachment to Pets Scale (LAPS).

Main outcomes and measures: Levels of depression and anxiety (10-item Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale [CESD-10]; Kessler Psychological Distress Scale [K6]; 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale [GAD-7]; Crown Crisp Experiential Index phobic anxiety subscale [CCI]), considered individually and combined into an overall z-score measure of anxiety and depression symptoms.

Results: A total of 214 women (mean [SD] age, 60.8 [3.9] years) were included; 156 women (72.6%) reported a history of childhood abuse. Of 688 invited MBS participants in 2013, 293 (42.6%) expressed interest; there were 228 completed questionnaires (response rate, 77.8%) in 2013 and 208 questionnaires (response rate, 71.0%) in 2014. LAPS scores were provided by 140 participants (65.4%), 78 (55.7%) for dogs and 46 (32.9%) for cats. Overall higher pet attachment on the LAPS score was significantly associated with lower GAD-7 scores (β = -0.17; 95% CI, -0.29 to -0.06), but there was no association for phobic anxiety or depression. There were no statistically significant associations between cat attachment and depression or anxiety. Higher dog attachment was associated with significantly lower scores in depression (CESD-10: β, -0.47; 95% CI, -0.68 to -0.26; K6: β = -0.42; 95% CI, -0.54 to -0.31), generalized anxiety (GAD-7: β = -0.47; 95% CI, -0.65 to -0.3), and the overall measure of anxiety and depression (z score: β = -0.12; 95% CI, -0.17 to -0.08), but there was no association between dog attachment and phobic anxiety (CCI: β = -0.08; 95% CI, -0.24 to 0.09). All effect sizes for associations were higher when analyses were restricted to women with a history of childhood abuse.

Conclusions and relevance: In this explorative cross-sectional study, strong attachment to pets, especially dogs, was associated with lower anxiety and depression symptoms. The favorable association was particularly apparent in women with a history of childhood abuse.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: Dr Zeleznik reported grants from National Institutes of Health (NIH) and grants from US Department of Defense outside the submitted work. Dr Westgarth reported receiving consulting fees from Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health during the conduct of the study. Dr Laden reported grants from NIH funding this and similar research during the conduct of the study; she reported receiving personal fees for grant reviews with the NIH grant review outside the submitted work. Dr Chavarro reported grants paid to his institution from the NIH outside the submitted work. Dr Okereke reported serving as primary supervisor for a recipient of a postdoctoral fellowship from Nestle-Purina for research on dogs and cats and mental health. No other disclosures were reported.

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