Voting and Intergenerational Transmission of Risk for Depression

Depression is among the most prevalent and costly of all illnesses worldwide and its consequences for democratic politics are substantive. Previous research has found that depression is associated with lower voting propensity. Studies have also shown that the likelihood of turnout and the risk for depression are both, at least partially, intergenerationally transmitted. If persons’ parents have experienced depression, they are more at risk of experiencing depressive symptoms themselves and a similar parent-child association has been noticed with turnout. In this paper, we study if childrens’ voting propensity can be predicted by their family history of mental health issues. Our analysis is based on cohort data in which persons belonging to a same cohort have been systematically followed from their early childhood to their middle ages. Specifically, we test if a) a cohort member’s likelihood of voting is associated with their own current mental health status, b) if a cohort member’s likelihood of voting is associated with their mother’s mental health in cohort members’ childhood, and c) if the effect of mother’s mental health on a cohort member’s voting likelihood is mediated by the cohort member’s own mental health. To test these hypotheses we use data from the British Cohort Study. Our paper is the first one that studies how the intergenerational transmission of risk for depression may influence political behaviour.