The Impact of Conservatism and Elected Party Representation on Mental Health Outcomes During Major Elections

Introduction: The American Psychological Association's national surveys have revealed high levels of stress surrounding the political climate since the 2016 United States (U.S.) presidential election. The two current studies aimed to further evaluate the impact of political factors, such as social and economic conservatism and political party affiliation mismatch between individuals and their local or federal officials, on emotional experiences. Methods: Data for these studies were collected through Amazon's Mechanical Turk following the 2016 and 2018 U.S. elections. Results: Results from Study 1 revealed that following the 2016 presidential election, higher social and economic conservatism was associated with less political obsessions and lower levels of depression. Results from Study 2 also demonstrated that following the 2018 midterm elections, higher conservatism predicted lower depression, less political obsessions, lower levels of negative affect, and higher positive affect. Additionally, conservatism moderated the relationship between party affiliation mismatch between participants and their official in the U.S. House of Representatives and both anxiety and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. The relationship between mismatch of party affiliation for participants’ Senators and obsessive-compulsive symptoms was also moderated by conservatism. Discussion: These studies suggest that political factors, particularly conservatism, may impact emotional experiences and mental health symptoms during times of increased political polarization. Future studies should further explore the impact of political divisiveness on individual's stress levels and emotional well-being.