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Democracy and Depression: A Cross-National Study of Depressive Symptoms and Nonparticipation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 October 2020

CLAUDIA LANDWEHR*
Affiliation:
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
CHRISTOPHER OJEDA*
Affiliation:
University of Tennessee
*
Claudia Landwehr, Professor of Public Policy, Institute for Political Science, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, landwehr@politik.uni-mainz.de.
Christopher Ojeda, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Univeristy of Tennessee, ojeda@utk.edu.
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Abstract

Depression is the most common mental health disorder. It has consequences not only on individuals but also on social and political levels. We argue that depressive symptoms impair political participation by reducing the motivation and physical energy of sufferers. We test our hypotheses by conducting regression analyses of four nationally representative cross-sectional and longitudinal surveys that collectively span many democracies. Our results are threefold. First, we find that the severest depressive symptoms lower the probability of voting by 0.05–0.25 points, an effect that is exceeded only by education and age. Second, we show that depressive symptoms negatively affect political interest and internal efficacy, thereby confirming that they diminish political motivation. Third, we find that depressive symptoms most strongly affect physically demanding acts, thereby confirming that they reduce the physical energy required for participation. We conclude by urging scholars to take depressive symptoms seriously in the study of political behavior.

Information

Type
Letter
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the American Political Science Association
Figure 0

Table 1.Features of the Data Used in the Analyses

Figure 1

Table 2.Question Wording and Descriptive Statistics of Depressive Symptoms

Figure 2

Figure 1.Difference in Political Behavior between Depressed Quintiles in ESS

Figure 3

Table 3.Estimated Coefficient and Standard Error for Depressive Symptoms

Figure 4

Figure 2.Predicted Probability of Voting Across Depressive Symptoms

Figure 5

Figure 3.Predicted Level of Political Motivation across Depressive Symptoms

Supplementary material: PDF

Landwehr and Ojeda supplementary material

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