Empowering Psychiatric Inpatients to Vote: Perceptions of Voting and the Barriers Encountered.

Individuals with psychiatric illness believe that voting is important. However, these individuals have lower rates of voting when compared to the general population. A survey of psychiatrically hospitalized adult patients was conducted to assess perceptions of and barriers to voting in patients with psychiatric illness. Data from 113 surveys was analyzed. A majority of survey participants agreed that they cared about voting, that their vote made a difference, and that their vote was important. 74% of individuals reported previously experiencing at least one barrier when exercising their right to vote. The most commonly experienced barriers reported were not having enough information to make an informed choice, not knowing where to vote, not having transportation, and not being registered to vote. Individuals who encountered a higher number of barriers in the past had a higher chance of encountering barriers more often. In conclusion, a high percentage of individuals with mental illness severe enough to warrant hospitalization have experienced barriers to voting, with many experiencing multiple barriers. Reduction of these barriers is important, as voting and the resultant public policies can directly affect this population's mental health and access to both mental and physical healthcare services.

A dataset exploring turnout patterns in Spanish party primaries (1991-2023).

The paper presents exhaustive information on a dataset of primary processes held by Spanish political parties with representation at both the national and regional level. Using evidences collected from various sources, the dataset covers more than 360 processes carried out by more than 30 Spanish political parties between 1991 and 2023, at both the national and regional level and for both candidate and leadership selection processes. The dataset provides information on the results of the ballots (Turnout, Share of the winner), some basic party features (Ideology, etc.) and the specific features of each process (Competitiveness, Voting procedures, etc.). Hence, it offers the possibility to analyze how different variables providing information on each political party and each internal process are related to the results of each ballot.

The role of health and health systems in promoting social capital, political participation and peace: A narrative review.

High levels of violence and insecurity are highly detrimental for societies. United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 16 is advocating for peaceful, accountable and inclusive institutions as one powerful channel to foster global development. Investing in health and health policies can potentially contribute achieving these objectives. After providing a conceptual framework, this article reviews the existing literature on the evidence of the role of health and health systems in promoting social capital and trust, political engagement and participation, and peace that closely relate to the objectives of Sustainable Development Goal 16. We provide evidence of a systematically positive impact of better physical and mental health on social capital, and on political participation, both contributing to the sustainability of inclusive democratic institutions. We also document that health and health systems can help supporting peace, both via the reduction of social inequality and grievances, and by reducing the disruptive effects of epidemic shocks. Overall, the study provides evidence that health and health systems can generate co-benefits outside the health domain by promoting social capital, political participation and peace.

Nurse state legislators, 2013 to 2023.

BACKGROUND: Electing nurse legislators can help states make sound health policy. PURPOSE: To document the distribution of American nurses elected to state-level offices in 2023 and compare it to data from 2013. METHODS: We developed a directory of 2023 nurses elected to state legislatures. Data collected include state, year elected, party, committees, re-election date, and full/part-time state legislature. FINDINGS: In 2023, there were 72 nurse legislators in 36 states. These nurse legislators' affiliations were divided almost evenly between the two major parties (38 Republicans and 34 Democrats). Sixty legislators serve on health committees; 32 on finance committees. Fourteen serve in states that have full-time legislatures. The majority (n = 60) are up for re-election in 2024. In 2013, there were 97 legislators in 39 states. DISCUSSION: Over the last decade, the number of nurse legislators has declined. CONCLUSION: State legislatures play key roles in funding and regulating health policy. Identifying where nurses currently serve provides actionable information for those seeking to recruit, train, and elect nurse candidates.

If you really love nothing. Evaluating second-order factors in the case of Italian constitutional referendum of 2020.

The paper evaluates several second-order factors to explain the outcomes of the 2020 constitutional referendum held in Italy. This particular referendum serves as a relevant case study to assess the significance of second-order factors, given its unique characteristics, including the simplicity of the referendum question regarding the reduction in the number of parliamentarians (MPs), the minimal impact on public finances resulting from this reduction, and the subsequent decrease in territorial democratic representation. While it might have been expected that a significant majority would vote in favour of the "No" option, thus preserving the current levels of territorial coverage (and democratic representation) of MPs, the actual results saw a substantial majority in favour of the "Yes" vote (69%). Our argument posits that the overwhelming prevalence of the "Yes" vote (to reduce the number of MPs), especially in poorer areas of the country, can be attributed to specific factors that influence individual evaluations in a direct-democratic setting. In greater detail, by using cross-sectional data, the paper tests the role of socio-economic condition, trust in institutions and political participation in affecting the referendum outcome. The results of our empirical analysis confirm our hypotheses, demonstrating that second-order factors indeed influenced the referendum's outcome. Specifically, our analysis reveals that: (i) a higher socio-economic condition could generate a higher share of "No" votes; (ii) a higher trust in institutions could lead to an increase in the share of "No" votes; finally, that (iii) an increase in political participation could produce a decrease in the share of "No" votes. In the concluding section of the paper, we discuss how this analysis contributes new insights to the study of voting behaviour in direct-democratic contexts.

Marginalized, but not demobilized: Ethnic minority protest activity when facing discrimination.

In a context of backlash against diversity in many countries, we know little about how ethnic minorities respond politically when they personally experience discrimination. Moving beyond the study of electoral participation, this research investigates whether experiences of discrimination push ethnic minorities toward an alternate political pathway for those who feel sidelined by the political community: protest activity. The study also examines whether the context of discrimination (i.e. public or private sphere) has different consequences for protest participation, and whether intragroup contact enhances the effects of discrimination on protest participation. Relying on a survey of 1647 respondents from racialized backgrounds in Canada, our findings indicate that discriminatory experiences increase participation in protest activities irrespective of its context, and that the positive relationship between discriminatory experiences and protest activity is stronger among respondents with greater intragroup contact.

Metacognitive effects of attitudinal (in)congruence on social media: relating processing fluency, subjective knowledge, and political participation.

Introduction: Encountering political disagreements in our daily lives can discourage us from participating in democratic processes. To date, research has mainly focused on social motives or attitudinal mechanisms to explain this phenomenon. In the present study, we adopt a different approach and highlight metacognitive effects of attitudinal (in)congruence on processing fluency (i.e., perceived ease of processing) and subjective knowledge as well as their relationship with behavioral outcomes such as the intention to politically participate. Methods: In a pre-registered online experiment (N = 1,258), participants saw a political social media post with six opinionated user-generated comments. These comments either all matched (congruent condition) or contradicted (incongruent condition) participants' personal opinions. Processing fluency, issue specific subjective knowledge, and intention to politically participate were then measured using established self-report scales. Results: In line with our hypotheses, the congruent stimuli evoked a higher feeling of processing fluency than the incongruent ones (d = 0.21). Furthermore, participants in the congruent condition indicated a higher intention to politically participate (d = 0.23) and rated their own knowledge on the topic as higher (d = 0.22) than participants in the incongruent condition-even though the factual knowledge gain should be equal in both conditions. Finally, we observed positive relationships between processing fluency and subjective issue knowledge (ß = 0.11) as well as between subjective issue knowledge and issue-specific political participation (ß = 0.43). Discussion: Our findings highlight the importance of considering metacognitive constructs such as subjective knowledge to explain political behaviors and suggest that attitudinal congruence influences the way we perceive our own knowledge and information processing.

Absolutely Relative: How Education Shapes Voter Turnout in the United States.

Why has voter turnout in the United States not increased proportionally with educational attainment over time? Relative education theories have attempted to answer this question by highlighting how the value of individuals' education may be influenced by the educational levels achieved by others. For instance, individuals may attain a higher level of education compared to previous generations, but the relative value of their education may not improve if society as a whole also achieves higher levels of education. Thus, this increased educational attainment may have little influence on voter turnout. Using a new measure of relative education and incorporating more recent post-2000 data, this research finds that while the relative education model explains the education-turnout relationship prior to 2000, since then individuals with a higher absolute level of education have been more likely to vote, regardless of the relative value of their education. The rise in voter turnout over the past two decades could be attributed to this increase in the absolute level of education.

Participatory Inequality Across Countries: Contacting Public Officials Online and Offline.

The Internet offers low-cost ways to participate in political life, which reduces the motivation required to participate and thus potentially reduces inequalities in participation. I examine online and offline contacting of elected officials using original survey data from Canada, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States collected in 2019 and 2021. Education is a consistent positive predictor of contacting in all countries as well as both modes of contact (online and offline). Income differences are small. Younger people are more likely to contact officials, online and offline, compared to older people. Females are less likely to contact officials, online and offline, compared to males. While political interest, efficacy, online information consumption, and online group ties are believed to lead to more equity in online communication, I do not see strong differences in these variables for online and offline contacting. I conclude by discussing the implications of exclusively online contacting of officials when this form of contact is devalued by elected officials, as well as the implications of participatory inequalities with respect to influencing public policy and access to government services.

Participación y empoderamiento político de las mujeres en el siglo XXI: un abordaje Iberoamericano para construir una postura bioética

Propósito/Contexto. Este artículo busca categorizar los temas descritos en los estudios empíricos sobre los conceptos y las investigaciones más destacadas en el ámbito de la participación y el empoderamiento político, para que ayude a construir una postura desde la Bioética para las mujeres. Metodología/Enfoque. Se hace una revisión cualitativa de la literatura, de tipo descriptivo, búsqueda bibliográfica, recuperación de estudios, sistematización, selección, análisis primario, evaluación y análisis por temas. El análisis se enfoca en Iberoamérica, ya que engloba las investigaciones con características similares en el objeto de estudio, las mujeres en sus diversas dimensiones y cómo se ve el ámbito de la participación y el empoderamiento de estas en los países de la región. Resultados/Hallazgos. De 63 documentos, las temáticas encontradas se abordan de la siguiente forma: el 19 % aluden la Bioética y el género; el 35 % se refieren a la participación política de las mujeres; el 17 %> de los textos abordan estudios de género y el 29 % restante de los artículos hacen alusión al empoderamiento de las mujeres. Discusión/Conclusiones/Contribuciones. No se encuentra producción empírica sobre el empoderamiento político de las mujeres en la perspectiva Bioética. Se resalta la necesidad de construir desarrollos propios desde la Bioética desde una perspectiva feminista y de género.

Purpose/ Background. This article seeks to categorize the topics described in empirical studies on the most outstanding concepts and research in the field of political participation and empowerment that helps to build a bioethical position for women. Methodology/Approach. A qualitative review of the literature is made, of a descriptive type, bibliographic search, retrieval of studies, systematization, selection, primary analysis, evaluation and analysis by topic. The analysis focuses on Latin America, since it encompasses research with similar characteristics in the object of study, women in their various dimensions and how the field of participation and empowerment of these is seen in the countries of the region. Results/Findings. Out of 63 documents, the topics found are addressed as follows: 19% refer to bioethics and gender; 35% refer to the political participation of women; 17% of the texts address gender studies, and 29% of the articles refer to the empowerment of women. Discussion/Conclusions/Contributions. There is no empirical production on the political empowerment of women from a bioethical perspective. The need to build own developments from bioethics from a feminist and gender perspective is highlighted.

Objetivo/Contexto. Este artigo busca categorizar os tópicos descritos em estudos empíricos sobre os conceitos e pesquisas mais marcantes no campo da participação política e do empoderamento que ajuda a construir uma posição bioética para as mulheres. Metodologia/Abordagem. É feita uma revisão qualitativa da literatura, do tipo descritiva, busca bibliográfica, recuperação de estudos, sistematização, seleção, análise primária, avaliação e análise por tema. A análise centra-se na América Latina, uma vez que engloba pesquisas com características semelhantes ao objeto de estudo, as mulheres em suas diversas dimensões e como se vê o campo de participação e empoderamento destas nos países da região. Resultados/Descobertas. Dos 63 documentos, os temas encontrados são assim tratados: 19% referem-se à bioética e gênero; 35% referem-se à participação política das mulheres; 17% dos textos tratam de estudos de gênero e 29% dos artigos referem-se ao empoderamento das mulheres. Discussão/ Conclusões/Contribuições. Não há produção empírica sobre o empoderamento político das mulheres a partir de uma perspectiva bioética. Destaca-se a necessidade de construir desenvolvimentos próprios a partir da bioética a partir de uma perspectiva feminista e de gênero.

Impact of positive and negative emotions on protest for institutional reform: An analysis of #EndSars Twitter posts.

A protest is a collective action undertaken by a group of people to achieve a common goal. Participation in protests is motivated by appraisals of a social condition. The dual pathway model of collective action has been extended to consider both negative and positive emotional paths to protest. This study further shows the prevalence of positive and negative emotions as they differ systematically between the different phases of protest. This study divides the protest period into four phases: before the trigger event, during the trigger event, during the protest, and reform announcement. A sentimental analysis of how positive and negative emotions vary across the four phases of protest was conducted using the Twitter posts of the #EndSARS protest in Nigeria. Findings revealed that both positive and negative emotions co-occur alongside the protest phases. Trust was dominant before the trigger event, fear was dominant during the trigger event, anger was dominant during the protest and joy was dominant following the reform announcement. Findings from this study indicate that fear and anger instigate protest. Anticipation motivates protest and joy is the feeling of satisfaction experienced when the goal of a protest is achieved.

Civic engagement among foreign-born and native-born older adults living in Europe: a SHARE-based analysis.

Civic engagement is one of the cornerstones of participatory democracy and fundamental to preventing old-age social exclusion. Even though civic engagement late-in-life has received considerable attention, there is a lacuna of research on older migrants' civic engagement. This study aims therefore to examine potential predictors of civic engagement in terms of formal volunteering and participation in political organisations among foreign-born and native-born older adults in Europe. Attention is hereby given to how socio-structural resources and social capital are associated with civic engagement, and whether these associations differ between foreign-born and native-born. Data from wave 7 of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe [n = 74,150; 5710 of them are foreign-born] were used in multivariable logistic regression analyses. Results show that socio-structural and social capital variables are positively associated with volunteering and participation in political organisations, both in native-born and foreign-born older adults. The study also suggests that place of birth (in Europe vs. outside Europe) and age-upon-migration play a role in predicting civic engagement among foreign-born older adults, and are therefore features worth considering when studying older migrants' civic engagement.

Between everyday politics and political elites: transmission and coupling within Westminster's parliamentary e-petitions system.

Popular dissatisfaction with representative democracy has encouraged governments and legislatures worldwide to experiment with democratic innovations. However, despite calls for a 'systemic' approach to the study of democratic engagement and participation, empirical knowledge is limited about the diffusion of democratic innovations within civil society, and, in particular, about the connective mechanisms that bring the 'voice' of citizens to the 'ears' of political elites. This article responds to this gap, presenting original empirical research examining the UK House of Commons' e-petitions system. This research maps public engagement with parliamentary e-petitions across a range of expressive spaces, and highlights the facilitative role of non-institutional intermediaries. However, it also underlines the predominant role of institutional actors in structuring public participation, and shows that effective transmission between the informal public and formal political spheres remains contingent on both 'designed-in powers' of institutional coupling and 'developed practices' of public engagement. Through this analysis, the article makes an important contribution to debates concerning democratic innovations, political participation, and institutional design. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1057/s41293-022-00208-9.

Online-Network-Group Use and Political-Participation Intention in China: The Analysis Based on CSS 2019 Survey Data.

Although there are many studies discussing the effect of Internet use on political participation, the literature has rarely focused on the relationship between the use of online-network groups and the political-participation intention in contemporary China. The discussion of this relationship is significant, as it offers a new perspective on reviewing the mobilization theory of media, especially in the context of online-network groups, and potentially provides a new channel for mobilizing a wider range of people for politics once the relationship is significant. This study aims to answer the following question: Can we predict the political-participation intention of Chinese citizens through the use of online-network groups? Based on the data of the China Social Survey 2019, this study uses the hierarchical logistic-regression method. The research finds that the specific online-network groups that can predict political-participation intention are mainly concentrated in the category of emotional relationships. Among them, although most of the online-network groups are positively correlated with political-participation intention, the possibility of generating political-participation intention of those who join the relative network group is significantly lower than for those who do not. The virtual connection built by online communication technology, the social relations, and the influence of social groups on individuals can help to explain the correlation between them.

The contribution of the smartphone use to reducing depressive symptoms of Chinese older adults: The mediating effect of social participation.

Background: Depression is a prevalent mental health disorder. Although Internet use has been associated with depression, there is limited data on the association between smartphone use and depressive symptoms. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between smartphone use and depressive symptoms among older individuals in China. Methods: 5,244 Chinese older individuals over the age of 60 were selected as the sample from the China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey (CLASS) 2018 dataset. The dependent variable "depression symptoms" was measured using the 9-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale. The study employed multiple linear regression to investigate the relationship between smartphone use (independent variable) and depressive symptoms in older people. Thorough analyses of robustness, sensitivity, and heterogeneity were conducted to ensure the robustness and sensitivity of the findings. Additionally, mediating effect analysis was performed to elucidate the mechanism through which the dependent and independent variables were related. Results: Empirical study indicated that smartphone use had a negative impact on depressive symptoms among older adults, specifically leading to a reduction in such symptoms. The above-mentioned result was verified through endogenous and robustness tests. The heterogeneity analysis revealed that older individuals aged 70 years and above, male, and residing in urban areas exhibited a stronger association between smartphone use and depressive symptoms. Furthermore, the mediating effect model indicated that political participation, voluntary participation, and active leisure participation mediated the relationship between smartphone use and lower levels of depression symptoms among the older adults. However, passive leisure participation had a suppressing effect on the relationship between smartphone use and reduced depressive symptoms among the older adults. Limitations: The causal relationship between variables required further investigation with a longitudinal design. Conclusion: These findings suggested that smartphone use may be considered an intervention to reduce depression symptoms among older people by increasing levels of political participation, voluntary participation, and active leisure participation.

For the Sake of Myself, My Colleagues and My Community: Exploring the Benefits of Political Participation in Later Life.

Most studies on the benefits of late life civic engagement have focused exclusively on formal volunteering. Older adults' political participation is much more overlooked. The current paper explores the benefits of long-term participation in political organizations as described by actively engaged Spanish older people. We used an adaptation of McAdams' life-story interview with 40 participants from three types of political organizations who occupy a responsible position within the organization. We identified three main themes in participants' answers: personal benefits, relational benefits, and community benefits. Overall, our results showed that the benefits arising from long-term political participation go far beyond the well-studied individual benefits that research on late-life volunteering has typically identified, and spread to relational and community areas. Social work practitioners should consider these benefits when they implement plans and programmes to promote healthy, active ways of aging, fostering age-friendly communities or reducing old-age social exclusion.

Sleeping giant: A research agenda for politics and chronobiology.

Sleep research presents an important frontier of discovery for political science. While sleep has largely been neglected by political scientists, human psychology is inextricably linked with sleep and so political cognition must be as well. Existing work shows that sleep is linked to political participation and ideology, and that contentious politics can disrupt sleep. I propose three directions for future research-on participatory democracy, on ideology, and on how context shapes sleep-politics links. I also note that sleep research intersects with the study of political institutions, of war and conflict, of elite decision-making, and of normative theory. In short, political scientists across subfields can and should consider whether and how sleep influences political life in their area of expertise and how to influence relevant policies. This new research agenda will enrich our theories of politics and enable us to identify pressing areas for policy interventions to revitalize our democracy.

Hong Kong Adolescents' Participation in Political Activities: Correlates of Violent Political Participation.

The present study aimed to examine Hong Kong junior secondary school students' participation in different types of political activities, to identify profiles of adolescents based on their political participation, and to examine potential protective and risk factors associated with adolescents' violent political participation during the social unrest in Hong Kong from a positive youth development perspective. A total of 2,016 students (age = 13.92 ± 1.10 years) recruited from 24 secondary schools in Hong Kong participated in an online survey six months after the social unrest subsided. The findings provide a comprehensive descriptive profile of Hong Kong adolescents' political participation. Four clusters of adolescents with homogeneous patterns of political participation were identified: (1) "Politically Inactive" (42.6%); (2) "Legal Participant" (27.5%); (3) "Radical/Violent Activist" (13.0%); and (4) "Peaceful Activist" (17.0%). Logistic regression analysis showed that being female, born in Hong Kong, having a weak local identity and a strong national identity, a high level of bonding, prosocial involvement and prosocial norms, a low level of parental psychological control and family conflict, and a good parent-child relationship were associated with a low risk of adolescents' violent political participation. The findings point to the needs to further promote social cohesion in Hong Kong society, to help adolescents avoid the potentially essentialized dichotomy in their identity construction, and to develop programs targeting the identified risk and protective factors to prevent adolescents from engaging in political violence and to promote their civic participation.

Beyond Racial Linked Fate: Inter-Minority Political Solidarity and Political Participation.

This study examines the various patterns of political participation among Latinos, Blacks and Asians Americans. To assess these patterns of political participation among these three groups, I employ the Collaborative Multiracial Post-election Survey (CMPS) 2016. I use two key measures: one is the original measure of linked fate and the other is immigrant linked fate, both which are available in the CMPS. This allows for a comparison of two measures of linked fate on political participation across racial and ethnic groups. To test the impact of linked fate on political participation, I present several negative binomial regressions. The results show that the original measure of linked fate is a strong predictor for political participation for Latinos and Blacks but does not predict political participation for Asians. The measure for immigrant linked fate predicts political participation for Latinos and Blacks but not for Asians. The results suggest that participating in politics to represent the interests of their racial or ethnic group is very important for Latinos and Blacks. Additionally, participating in politics to represent the interests of immigrants is also strongly pronounced among Blacks and Latinos and shows a motivation for these two groups to engage in politics. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11109-023-09861-2.

Differentiation in Protest Politics: Participation by Political Insiders and Outsiders.

The political participation literature has documented a long-term trend of the normalization of noninstitutional participation that is often equated with the conventionalization of engagement in protest politics. Less is known on the extent to which noninstitutional forms are differentiated by their mobilization context. Population surveys find it difficult to contextualize individual engagement, and on-site surveys point to effects that are hard to generalize. This study fills this gap by emphasizing differentiation and distinguishing participation according to the issue of engagement. It introduces a conceptual distinction between political insiders and outsiders, defined based on the extent to which they are embedded in the organizational landscape of the dominant cleavage dimension. Using an original survey conducted in Germany during the Covid-19 crisis, the analysis demonstrates that general-population surveys are fit to examine issue-specific participation patterns. The results expose an insider and outsider divide, captured by the effect of attitudinal and behavioral indicators, and demonstrates that the two groups are equally likely to participate in noninstitutional forms. However, insiders engage on the established issues of climate and anti-racism, whereas outsiders engage on the new issues of Covid-19 related economic assistance and civil liberties restrictions. In addition, dynamic models reveal that noninstitutional participation is rooted in volatile issue preferences. Overall, the paper argues that participation during the Covid-19 crisis has furthered the trend towards a differentiated protest arena. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11109-022-09846-7.