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Table 1 Descriptive characteristics of study sample

From: Does owning a pet protect older people against loneliness?

 

Wave 0 (2001)

Wave 2 (2004)

Wave 5 (2010)

 

All

Men

Women

All

Men

Women

All

Men

Women

Total N

2,141

946

1,195

5,210

2,272

2,938

5,210

2,272

2,938

Mean age

61.4

60.9

61.8

65.0

64.6

65.3

71.2

70.7

71.6

Pet ownership 3

  Yes (%)

41.1%

41.7%

40.7

NA

NA

NA

29.2%

29.8%

28.6%

Ownership of house pet:

  Dog (%)1

19.8%

20.3%

19.3%

NA

NA

NA

15.2%

15.6%

14.9%

  Cat (%)1

21.7%

21.7%

21.7%

NA

NA

NA

13.3%

13.8%

12.9%

  Bird (%)1

3.6%

3.7%

3.6%

NA

NA

NA

1.8%

1.7%

1.9%

  Other furry pet (%)1

2.3%

2.3%

2.3%

NA

NA

NA

0.8%

1.0%

0.6%

  Other pet (%)1

3.8%

4.8%

3.1%

NA

NA

NA

2.9%

3.4%

2.5%

Loneliness 3

  Yes (%)

NA

NA

NA

18.1%

14.1%

21.3%

20.6%

16.3%

23.9%

Marital status

  Single/divorced/separated/widowed (%)

31.6%

23.8%

37.9%

32.6%

22.4%

40.5%

36.7%

24.7%

46.0%

Parenthood

  Yes

NA

NA

NA

87.8%

87.2%

88.2%

87.9%

87.3%

88.4%

Social participation 3

  Yes

NA

NA

NA

22.6%

19.9%

24.5%

26.6%

25.1%

27.8%

Close personal relationships 3

  Yes

NA

NA

NA

99.8%

99.8%

99.9%

99.7%

99.6%

99.7%

Working status 3

  Working (%)

46.2%

52.9%

41.0%

33.7%

40.3%

28.6%

18.6%

24.1%

14.4%

Social class

  Managerial/professional

37.1%

45.0%

30.7%

34.3%

42.8%

27.6%

32.6%

40.4%

26.4%

  Intermediate

24.3%

18.4%

29.1%

25.9%

20.0%

30.5%

27.1%

21.2%

31.8%

  Routine/manual

38.6%

36.6%

40.3%

39.9%

37.3%

41.9%

40.3%

38.4%

41.8%

Household income

  1Q (low)

NA

NA

NA

16.5

10.9

20.8

18.6

14.4

21.8

  2Q

NA

NA

NA

17.0

15.3

18.2

21.4

20.3

22.2

  3Q

NA

NA

NA

19.4

19.8

19.1

21.3

21.1

21.5

  4Q

NA

NA

NA

21.0

23.2

19.3

18.7

21.1

17.0

  5Q (high)

NA

NA

NA

24.6

29.3

21.0

17.3

20.9

14.6

Self-rated health 2,3

  Poor

6.7%

7.5%

6.0%

23.0%

21.5%

24.1%

28.0%

26.7%

29.0%

Long standing illness

  Yes – limiting

32.2%

30.8%

33.4%

32.0%

28.8%

34.4%

38.6%

35.8%

40.7%

Immobility 3

  Some difficulty/much difficulty/unable to do test

11.0%

11.3%

10.8%

23.5%

19.7%

26.4%

35.7%

30.7%

39.6%

Hearing difficulties 3

  Yes

6.7%

8.5%

5.3%

4.2%

5.7%

3.1%

5.6%

7.1%

4.5%

Seeing difficulties 3

  Yes

3.4%

3.5%

3.3

2.8%

2.2%

3.3%

4.3%

3.0%

5.2%

  1. 1Some individuals owned more than one pet.
  2. 2In Wave 0 and in waves 1+ different categorization.
  3. 3 Binary variables; we show % of only one category.