How Different Forms of Health Matter to Political Participation

Burden, Barry C.; Fletcher, Jason M.; Herd, Pamela; Jones, Bradley M.; Moynihan, Donald P.

doi:10.1086/687536

Cited by 108 publications

(102 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Many of our examples come from access to welfare and health benefits, but these are not the only venues in which poor, sick, and old citizens are challenged in their interactions with the state. For instance, people are less likely to vote if they have fewer financial resources (Akee et al ), mental and physical health problems (Burden et al ), and age‐related cognitive decline (Burden et al ), which may be partly explained by reduced executive functioning.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human Capital and Administrative Burden: The Role of Cognitive Resources in Citizen‐State Interactions

Christensen

Aarøe

Bækgaard

et al. 2019

Public Administration Review

Self Cite

232

188

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One means by which the state reinforces inequality is by imposing administrative burdens that loom larger for citizens with lower levels of human capital. Integrating insights from various disciplines, this article focuses on one aspect of human capital: cognitive resources. The authors outline a model that explains how burdens and cognitive resources, especially executive functioning, interrelate. The article then presents illustrative examples, highlighting three common life factors-scarcity, health problems, and age-related cognitive decline. These factors create a human capital catch-22, increasing people's likelihood of needing state assistance while simultaneously undermining the cognitive resources required to negotiate the burdens they encounter while seeking such assistance. The result is to reduce access to state benefits and increase inequality. The article concludes by calling for scholars of behavioral public administration and public administration more generally to incorporate more attention to human capital into their research. Evidence for Practice• People's human capital influences how they engage with administrative processes. Groups with lower levels of human capital struggle more with administrative burdens; therefore, they are less likely to access public services. • A citizen-centered approach to public administration implies that policy makers and administrators take account of variation in human capital when making choices about policy design and implementation. • Cognitive resources, including executive functioning, are a form of human capital, which is key to citizens' ability to initiate and master state interactions. • Citizens experiencing scarcity, health problems, and cognitive decline face a catch-22: such common life factors make them more likely to need to engage with the state, but reduce their executive functioning, making them less able to deal with administrative burdens.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human Capital and Administrative Burden: The Role of Cognitive Resources in Citizen‐State Interactions

Christensen

Aarøe

Bækgaard

et al. 2019

Public Administration Review

Self Cite

232

188

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A novel and noteworthy finding in our study relates to the negative association between neurodegenerative diseases (including dementia, stroke, Parkinson's disease, alcoholism and others) and turnout. This is probably mostly attributed to reduced levels of cognitive and physical functioning, both of which are strongly associated with voting 20. For instance, advanced dementia may constitute a severe obstacle to processing political information 21.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How voter turnout varies between different chronic conditions? A population-based register study

Sund

Lahtinen

Wass

et al. 2016

J Epidemiol Community Health

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“…So far, much of this has focused on behaviour. We know, for example, that turnout is lower among voters with poor physical health (Schur et al 2002;Mattila et al 2013;Pacheco & Fletcher 2015) or poor mental health -including depression (Ojeda 2015;Sund et al 2017;Burden et al 2017;Couture & Breux 2017;Ojeda & Pacheco 2019;Ojeda & Slaughter 2019). Yet to date we know very little about the impact of psychological health on political attitudes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Depression and attitudes to change in referendums: The case of Brexit

Bernardi

Johns

2020

European J Political Res

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Depression is the most common mental illness and its profound impact on cognition and decisionmaking has implications for political judgement. However, those implications are unclear in the case of referendums offering a choice between status quo and change. On one hand, one component of depression is the kind of life dissatisfaction associated with voting for change. Yet cognitive models also portray depression sufferers as biased towards the status quo: they are less inclined to research change, more pessimistic about its benefits and more likely to exaggerate its potential costs. In this paper, we use data from Understanding Society to examine the impact of those cross-pressures on support for Brexit. Prior to the referendum, while life dissatisfaction and generally poor health predicted support for Leaving the European Union (EU), those diagnosed with depression were disproportionately likely to support Remain. Supporting our claim that the latter was a sign of status quo bias, this difference disappeared once the result was in and leaving the EU had become the widespread expectation. The study highlights the unexplored importance of mental health for political judgements, emphasises the multidimensionality of conditions like depression and illustrates the psychological role of status quo bias in referendum voting.

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How Different Forms of Health Matter to Political Participation

Cited by 108 publications

References 40 publications

Human Capital and Administrative Burden: The Role of Cognitive Resources in Citizen‐State Interactions

Human Capital and Administrative Burden: The Role of Cognitive Resources in Citizen‐State Interactions

How voter turnout varies between different chronic conditions? A population-based register study

Depression and attitudes to change in referendums: The case of Brexit

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