背景:研究人员很少考虑公众对政治事件的关注如何影响心理健康。具体来说,在像美国这样一个政治上两极分化的国家,这些事件可能会对公共心理健康产生影响。
目的:本研究使用公开调查数据,调查了与2018年美国参议院听证会和最高法院大法官BrettKavanaugh确认相关的心理健康影响。
方法:我们使用来自2014-2018年行为危险因素监测系统(BRFSS)的CDC数据中包含的访谈日期,以确定公众对Kavanaugh听证会的关注增加以及对确认为女性个体的心理健康的影响。我们采用三重差异模型来控制可能的混杂效应和目标因果关系。
结果:我们发现报告的“不良”心理健康天数和报告任何“不良”心理健康天数的可能性都有意义的增加。平均而言,与2014年同期的1个月期间相比,在Kavanaugh确认和听证会前后的1个月期间,女性报告的不良心理健康天数增加了0.24天.这一变化意味着心理健康负担增加了近10%。结果对于包含一系列协变量以及替代规格是稳健的。此外,我们得出了与BrettKavanaugh确认相关的精神健康负担增加相关的社会成本的估计。
结论:这项研究表明,Kavanaugh确认和听证会与心理健康挑战的显着增加有关。尤其是女性。这些结果超出了个人经验,说明了与由此增加的心理健康负担相关的社会成本。有必要对类似事件进行进一步研究。
BACKGROUND: Researchers have rarely considered how public attention surrounding political events influences mental health. Specifically, in a politically polarized nation like the United States, it is possible that these events have a public mental health effect.
OBJECTIVE: This study examines the mental health effects associated with the 2018 U.S. Senate hearing and confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh using public survey data.
METHODS: We use the interview date included in CDC data from the 2014-2018 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) to identify the effects of increased public attention on the Kavanaugh hearings and confirmation on the mental health of individuals who identify as female. We employ a triple difference model to control for possible confounding effects and target causality.
RESULTS: We find meaningful increases in both the number of \"not good\" mental health days reported and the probability of reporting any \"not good\" mental health days. On average, females reported 0.24 more poor mental health days during the one-month period surrounding the Kavanaugh confirmation and hearings than women did in the same 1-month period in 2014. This change represents a nearly 10% increase in mental health burden. The results are robust to the inclusion of a range of covariates as well as alternate specifications. In addition, we derive estimates of the societal costs associated with the increased mental health burden linked to Brett Kavanaugh\'s confirmation.
CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that the Kavanaugh confirmation and hearings were associated with a notable rise in mental health challenges, especially among women. These results extend beyond personal experience and illustrate the societal costs linked to the resulting increased mental health burden. Further research on similar events is warranted.