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

Bernardi, Luca ORCID: 0000-0001-5875-9990 and Johns, Robert (2021) Depression and attitudes to change in referendums: The case of Brexit. EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL RESEARCH, 60 (2). pp. 339-358.

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12398

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Depression is the most common mental illness and its profound impact on cognition and decision‐making 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.</jats:p>

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	depression, Brexit, referendum, health, political behaviour
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	13 Mar 2020 09:47
Last Modified:	05 Sep 2023 00:15
DOI:	10.1111/1475-6765.12398
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3078787