Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-g4j75 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-11T01:29:42.710Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Does poor health mobilize people into action? Health, political trust, and participation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 January 2020

Mikko Mattila Open the ORCID record for Mikko Mattila [Opens in a new window]
Mikko Mattila*
Affiliation:
Political Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland
*
E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Recently, awareness of the importance of health in explaining political participation has grown considerably. Studies have focused on individual participation forms but not on broader participation modes. Furthermore, analyses of the mechanisms explaining the health effects have been lacking. Here, structural equation models are employed to study the relationship between health, political trust, and institutional and non-institutional participation using data from Finland. Poor health is related to increased non-institutional participation, while good health boosts traditional institutional participation, although the latter relationship is very weak. These observations are explained by differences in political trust. Those in good health have stronger trust in the political system, while poor health is connected with reduced trust. These differences manifest themselves in varying behaviour. Poor health decreases trust which leads to increased non-institutional participation, while good health leads to a high trust and institutional activities.

Keywords

political participationhealthpolitical trust
Type
Research Article
Information
European Political Science Review , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , February 2020 , pp. 49 - 65
Copyright
© European Consortium for Political Research 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barnes, S.H., Allerbeck, K.R., Farah, B.G., Heunks, F.J., Inglehart, R.F., Jennings, M.K., Klingeman, H.D., Marsh, A. and Rosenmayr, L. (1979), Political Action: mass Participation in Five Western Democracies, Beverly Hills: Sage.Google Scholar
Bengtsson, Å. and Christensen, H. (2016), ‘Ideals and actions: do citizens’ patterns of political participation correspond to their conceptions of democracy?’, Government and Opposition 51(2): 234–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bollen, K.A., Biemer, P.P., Karr, A.F., Tueller, S. and Berzofsky, M.E. (2016), ‘Are survey weights needed? A review of diagnostic tests in regression analysis’, Annual Review of Statistics and Its Application 3: 375–392.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowling, A. (2005), Measuring Health, 3rd edn., Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill Education.Google Scholar
Braun, D. and Hutter, S. (2016), ‘Political trust, extra-representational participation and the openness of political systems’, International Political Science Review 37(2): 151–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bryngelson, A. (2009), ‘Long-term sickness absence and social exclusion’, Scandinavian Journal of Public Health 37(8): 839–845.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burden, B.C., Fletcher, J.M., Herd, P., Moynihan, D.P. and Jones, B.M. (2017), ‘How different forms of health matter to political participation’, Journal of Politics 79(1): 166–178.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Christensen, H.S., Setälä, M. and Jäske, M. (2019), ‘Self-reported health and democratic innovations: the case of the citizens’ initiative in Finland’, European Political Science 18(2): 291–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Couture, J. and Breux, S. (2017), ‘The differentiated effects of health on political participation’, European Journal of Public Health 27(4): 599–604.Google ScholarPubMed
Dalton, R.J. (2008), ‘Citizenship norms and the expansion of political participation’, Political Studies 56(1): 76–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dalton, R.J., Van Sickle, A. and Weldon, S. (2010), ‘The individual–institutional nexus of protest behaviour’, British Journal of Political Science 40(1): 51–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Denny, K. and Doyle, O. (2007a), ‘Analysing the relationship between voter turnout and health in Ireland’, Irish medical journal 100(8): 56–58.Google ScholarPubMed
Denny, K.J. and Doyle, O.M. (2007b), ‘“…Take up thy bed, and vote” measuring the relationship between voting behaviour and indicators of health’, European Journal of Public Health 17(4): 400–401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dowd, J.B. and Zajacova, A. (2010), ‘Does self-rated health mean the same thing across socioeconomic groups? Evidence from biomarker data’, Annals of Epidemiology 20(10): 743–749.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dubrow, J.K., Slomczynski, K.M. and Tomescu-Dubrow, I. (2008), ‘Effects of democracy and inequality on soft political protest in Europe: exploring the European social survey data’, International Journal of Sociology 38(3): 36–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fuchs, D. and Klingemann, H.D. (1995), Citizens and the state: a changing relationship. Citizens and the State. in Klingemann, H.D. and Fuchs, D. (eds), Citizens and T the S State, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 1–23.Google Scholar
Goerres, A. (2007), ‘Why are older people more likely to vote? The impact of ageing on electoral turnout in Europe’, British Journal of Politics and International Relations 9(1): 90–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gollust, S.E. and Rahn, W.M. (2015), ‘The bodies politic: chronic health conditions and voter turnout in the 2008 election’, Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 40(6): 1115–1155.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gurr, T.R. (1970), Why Men Rebel?, Princeton: Princeton University.Google Scholar
Gustavsen, A., Pierre, J. and Røiseland, A. (2017), ‘Participation or satisfaction? Examining determinants of Trust in Local Government’, Scandinavian Journal of Public Administration 21(3): 3–16.Google Scholar
Hooghe, M. (2011), ‘Why there is basically only one form of political trust’, British Journal of Politics and International Relations 13(2): 269–275.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hooghe, M. and Marien, S. (2013), ‘A comparative analysis of the relation between political trust and forms of political participation in Europe’, European Societies 15(1): 131–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hooper, D., Coughlan, J. and Mullen, M.R. (2008), ‘Structural equation modelling: guidelines for determining model fit’, Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods 6(1): 53–60.Google Scholar
Jylhä, M. (2009), ‘What is self-rated health and why does it predict mortality? Towards a unified conceptual model’, Social science and medicine 69(3): 307–316.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kaase, M. (1999), ‘Interpersonal trust, political trust and non-institutionalised political participation in Western Europe’, West European Politics 22(3): 1–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kern, A., Marien, S. and Hooghe, M. (2015), ‘Economic crisis and levels of political participation in Europe (2002–2010): the role of resources and grievances’, West European Politics 38(3): 465–490.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kline, R.B. (2016), Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling, 4th edn., New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Kumlin, S. and Rothstein, B. (2005), ‘Making and breaking social capital: the impact of welfare-state institutions’, Comparative political studies 38(4): 339–365.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kurer, T., Häusermann, S., Wüest, B. and Enggist, M. (2019), ‘Economic grievances and political protest’, European Journal of Political Research 58(3): 866–892.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lahtinen, H., Mattila, M., Wass, H. and Martikainen, P. (2017), ‘Explaining social class inequality in voter turnout: the contribution of income and health’, Scandinavian Political Studies 40(4): 388–410.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Layes, A., Asada, Y. and Kephart, G. (2012), ‘Whiners and deniers–What does self-rated health measure?’, Social Science and Medicine 75(1): 1–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Levi, M. and Stoker, L. (2000), ‘Political trust and trustworthiness’, Annual Review of Political Science 3(1): 475–507.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marien, S., Hooghe, M. and Quintelier, E. (2010), ‘Inequalities in non-institutionalised forms of political participation: a multi-level analysis of 25 countries’, Political Studies 58(1): 187–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mattila, M. and Rapeli, L. (2018), ‘Just sick of it? Health and political trust in Western Europe’. European Journal of Political Research 57(1): 116–134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mattila, M., Rapeli, L., Wass, H. and Söderlund, P. (2017), Health and Political Engagement, Abingdon: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mattila, M., Söderlund, P., Wass, H. and Rapeli, L. (2013), ‘Healthy voting: the effect of self-reported health on turnout in 30 countries’, Electoral Studies 32(4): 886–891.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mattila, M., Wass, H., Lahtinen, H. and Martikainen, P. (2018), ‘Sick leave from work and the voting booth? A register-based study on health and turnout’, Acta Politica 53(3): 429–447.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mattila, M. and Papageorgiou, A. (2017), ‘Disability, perceived discrimination and political participation’, International Political Science Review 38(5): 505–519.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McDowell, I. (2006), Measuring Health. A Guide to Rating Scales and Questionnaires, 3rd edn., Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, A.H. and Listhaug, O. (1990), ‘Political parties and confidence in government: a comparison of Norway, Sweden and the United States’, British Journal of Political Science 20(3): 357–386.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morgeson, F.V. and Petrescu, C. (2011), ‘Do they all perform alike? An examination of perceived performance, citizen satisfaction and trust with US federal agencies’, International Review of Administrative Sciences 77(3): 451–479.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norris, P., Walgrave, S. and Van Aelst, P. (2005), ‘Who demonstrates? Antistate rebels, conventional participants, or everyone?’, Comparative Politics 37(2): 189–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nygård, M. and Jakobsson, G. (2013), ‘Senior citizens and political participation–evidence from a Finnish regional study’, Ageing and Society 33(1): 159–180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ojeda, C. (2015), ‘Depression and political participation’, Social Science Quarterly 96(5): 1226–1243.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ojeda, C. and Slaughter, C.M. (2019), ‘Intersectionality, depression, and voter turnout’, Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 44(3): 479–504.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oppe, M., Szende, A. and de Charro, F. (2007), Comparative review of Visual Analogue Scale value sets” in Szende, A., Oppe, M., and Devlin, N. (eds), EQ-5D Value Sets: inventory, Comparative Review and User Guide, Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 29–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pacheco, J. (2019), ‘Using anchoring vignettes to reevaluate the link between self-rated health status and political behavior’, Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 44(3): 533–558.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pacheco, J. and Fletcher, J. (2015), ‘Incorporating health into studies of political behavior: evidence for turnout and partisanship’, Political Research Quarterly 68(1): 104–116.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pacheco, J. and Ojeda, C. (2020), ‘A healthy democracy? Evidence of unequal representation across health status’, Political Behavior, forthcoming.Google Scholar
Papageorgiou, A., Mattila, M. and Rapeli, L. (2019), ‘Does health affect party identification? Evidence from German panel data’, Representation 55(2): 215–224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peterson, S.A. (1987), ‘Biosocial predictors of older Americans’ political participation’, Politics and the Life Sciences 5(2): 246–251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rabin, R., Gudex, C., Selai, C. and Herdman, M. (2014), ‘From translation to version management: a history and review of methods for the cultural adaptation of the EuroQol five-dimensional questionnaire’, Value in Health 17(1): 70–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rapeli, L., Mattila, M. and Papageorgiou, A. (2020), ‘Breaking a habit: the impact of health on turnout and party choice’, Party Politics, forthcoming.Google Scholar
Sobel, M.E. (1987), ‘Direct and indirect effects in linear structural equation models’, Sociological Methods and Research 16(1): 155–176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Söderlund, P. and Rapeli, L. (2015), ‘In sickness and in health: personal health and political participation in the Nordic countries’, Politics and the Life Sciences 34(1): 28–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Solon, G., Haider, S.J. and Wooldridge, J.M. (2015), ‘What are we weighting for?’, Journal of Human resources 50(2): 301–316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
StataCorp (2017), Stata: Release 15. Statistical Software, College Station, TX: StataCorp LLC.Google Scholar
Stockemer, D. and Rapp, C. (2019), ‘The influence of various measures of health on different types of political participation’, Politics 39(4): 480–513.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stolle, D. and Hooghe, M. (2011), ‘Shifting inequalities: patterns of exclusion and inclusion in emerging forms of political participation’, European Societies 13(1): 119–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stolle, D., Hooghe, M. and Micheletti, M. (2005), ‘Politics in the supermarket: political consumerism as a form of political participation’, International Political Science Review 26(3): 245–269.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sund, R., Lahtinen, H., Wass, H., Mattila, M. and Martikainen, P. (2017) ‘How voter turnout varies between different chronic conditions? A population-based register study’, Journal Epidemiology and Community Health 71(5): 475–479.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Szende, A., Oppe, M. and Devlin, N. (eds) ( 2007), EQ-5D Value Sets. Inventory, Comparative Review and User Guide, Dordrecht: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Teorell, J., Torcal, M. and Montero, J.R. (2007), Political participation. Mapping the Terrain. in Van Deth, J.W., Montero, J.R. and Westholm, A. (eds), Citizenship and Involvement in European Democracies: a Comparative Analysis, Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 334–357.Google Scholar
Theocharis, Y. and van Deth, J.W. (2018a), Political Participation in a Changing World: conceptual and Empirical Challenges in the Study of Citizen Engagement, Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Theocharis, Y. and van Deth, J.W. (2018b), ‘The continuous expansion of citizen participation: a new taxonomy’, European Political Science Review 10(1): 139–163.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Reenen, M., Oppe, M., Boye, K.S., Herdman, M., Kennedy-Martin, M., Kennedy-Martin, T. and Slaap, B. (2015), EQ-5D-3L. User Guide. Basic Information on How to Use The EQ-5D-3L Instrument. Version 5.1.Google Scholar
Verba, S., Schlozman, K.L. and Brady, H.E. (1995), Voice and Equality: civic Voluntarism in American Politics, Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Wroe, A. (2014), ‘Political trust and job insecurity in 18 European polities’, Journal of Trust Research 4(2): 90–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yates, L.S. (2011), ‘Critical consumption: boycotting and buycotting in Europe’, European Societies 13(2): 191–217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Mattila supplementary material

Mattila supplementary material

Download Mattila supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 591.3 KB