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That's right: Americans are sick of politics.
This is the conclusion of a study published Wednesday in the journal Plos One, which examined the physical and emotional consequences of attention and participation in political discourse.
The results show that "a large number of American adults see the policy as a considerable cost to their social, emotional, psychological and even physical health," said the senior author of the report. study, Kevin Smith, a political scientist at the University of Nebraska.
The numbers were striking: "If these figures are accurate, people are basically saying that getting into politics is kind of a public health problem," Smith told NBC News.
These effects range from the loss of friendships to the thought of moving, "even the thought of suicide," Smith said.
However, this is only a survey, so the results should be taken with a grain of salt. "As long as we do not have more data, we will not know if it's really something [systemic], "or if the numbers were influenced by factors such as sampling errors," he said.
Smith's study examined survey data collected by YouGov in March 2017 on 800 Americans – a time when policy costs were "unusually high," the researchers wrote.
The YouGov survey included 32 questions that focused on how people thought politics affected their physical health, their mental health, their deplored behaviors and their social / lifestyle costs. The questions were adapted from diagnostic tools used by organizations such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Gamblers Anonymous.
The researchers noted that the purpose of the research was not to determine if politics was actually causing people's distress, but whether people believed it.
The study found that nearly 40% of respondents said the policy was stressing them.
About one in ten said the policy had hurt their physical health. One in five said that politics had made him sleepy and the same number said that politics caused him fatigue. Four percent said the policy had made them suicidal.
Paying attention to politics also had other effects: 32% of respondents said that exposure to media promoting views contrary to their personal beliefs could drive them crazy; 29% said they lost their temper because of the policy; 22% said they care too much about the election results; and 20% said the policy had hurt a friendship.
But the study also found that many respondents did not want this sentiment: 10-25% said they thought, cared and focused on politics more than they wanted; say and write things that they regretted later; and make bad decisions related to politics.
Eleven percent said they feel empty at the end of major political events.
Smith noted that people who lean left politically – Liberals, Democrats, and people who do not support President Donald Trump – were more likely to say they had incurred those costs.
But Smith pointed out that more research is needed.
"Would we have similar numbers if [Barack] Obama was in power? "Asked Smith." Honestly, we do not know it. It could just be the product of an unusual and particularly polarizing environment, but we just do not know it. "
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call the National Life Line for Suicide Prevention at 800-273-8255, text HOME at 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources. .
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