Nonpolitical Versus Political Participation: Longitudinal Associations with Mental Health and Social Well-Being in Different Age Groups

Abstract

Drawing on public opinion and empirical research, one may advise people to participate in voluntary organizations because voluntary participation can improve their mental health and social well-being. However, do such benefits apply across different types of participation and across the life course? In this study, we investigated whether benefits to mental health and social well-being differ between nonpolitical and political participation and across age groups (preregistration is accessible at https://osf.io/kqcbe). Using 25 waves of data from the British Household Panel Survey and the Understanding Society (1991–2016), we conducted multilevel analyses with observations nested within participants in younger (14–29, n = 10,536), middle-aged (40–50, n = 4,955), and older (65–75, n = 3,059) adults. We used life satisfaction and GHQ-12 scores as measures of mental health, and social support and neighborhood belonging as measures of social well-being. We found only few and small significant effects at the within-person level: On occasions when younger adults reported political participation, they reported slightly higher neighborhood belonging than when they did not. On occasions when older adults reported nonpolitical or political participation, they reported slightly higher life satisfaction than when they did not. However, we found no significant differences between nonpolitical and political participation and among age groups. In sum, our findings qualify the opinion that voluntary participation yields significant benefits to engaged individuals. We discuss potential explanations, including characteristics of political participation in the United Kingdom.

Impact of Residential Area Characteristics and Political Group Participation on Depression Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults: Results of an 11-Year Longitudinal Study

“…Successful aging involves active engagement with life ( Rowe & Kahn, 1997 ). Political activity may have a profound positive impact on well-being and life satisfaction ( Lühr et al, 2022 ; Pavlova & Lühr, 2023 ). However, political group attendance may also be associated with poor mental health among older adults, particularly those residing in politically competitive regions.…”

When You’re Down and Out: Who Benefits from Volunteering in Old Age?

“…The results were therefore interpreted such that changes in volunteering impact changes in life satisfaction. However, the direction of effects could not be established with this methodological approach and although it may be less plausible, a reverse interpretation is at least possible (e.g., Bjälkebring et al, 2021;Lawton et al, 2021;Lühr et al, 2022aLühr et al, , 2022b: that changes in mental health have influenced changes in volunteering, particularly in retirement-for instance because volunteering is driven by work-or family-related obligations prior to retirement and is more likely a matter of individual constitution during retirement. Nevertheless, I controlled extensively for health by including it as a time-varying covariate.…”

“…Despite this reasonable explanation, recent longitudinal studies with robust designs (i.e., fixed-effects models, within-person analyses) have suggested that the effects of volunteering on mental health among older adults are surprisingly small and not significantly stronger than the effects for younger adults (Lawton et al, 2021;Lühr et al, 2022aLühr et al, , 2022b.…”

Does political participation help improve the life satisfaction of urban residents: Empirical evidence from China

“…Life satisfaction refers to people’s evaluation of the overall quality of life [ 9 ]. It can be evaluated based on emotions, satisfaction with other people’s relationships, achieved goals, self-concept, self-perceived daily life ability, as well as social support and community belonging [ 10 ]. Life satisfaction can also reflect experiences that have a positive impact on a person [ 11 ].…”