…we measured mental health using an index, which combines youth-reported measures of well-being and mental health with parent-reports, as well as parental concerns about self-harm. The index has strong reliability and also predicts objective measures of mental health problems, such a psychiatric visits and prescriptions. For the purposes of this analysis, I define good mental health as scoring above average on this index, which is true for 62% of respondents; similarly, 67% of adolescents report their own mental health as good or excellent, and the two measures are highly correlated.
Naturally, public media reporting greatly overextends the research. At best, conservatives have kids have a higher than above average mental health index, or are less likely to self-harm, have fewer psychiatric visits and prescriptions. They are not necessarily happier.
Also, this is extremely interesting:
Very conservative parents, on average, enjoy the strongest relationships with their adolescent children, and liberals experience the worst. The difference is large and statistically significant at 95% confidence levels. Conservative parents are 8 percentage points more likely to be in a good relationship with their adolescent child than liberal parents, and the gap is 14 percentage points between very conservative and liberal parents.** Interestingly, however, “very liberal” parents score much higher than liberal parents, only slightly behind conservatives, with no significant difference**.
If a kid’s mental health is related to their parent’s conviction of their political ideology, then liberals need to get their shit together and move to the left. They’re not doing anyone any favors with whatever their preferred parenting style is…or their weak politics.
To be clear this study is a meta-analysis. It means it is not one study but a combination of data from many studies. Study after study has shown conservative people and children tend to be happier and have fewer issues with mental health.
It isn’t shocking since the core of conservatism is stability and that is what children need to be successful. We provide them with the tools in life to control their destiny versus being a victim all the time. Their success is their own making vs some outside even being their destiny.
From my link under the section “The Present Study”
We have access to our Gallup Panel, which consists of approximately 90,000 U.S. adults who were randomly selected to take a Gallup survey in the recent past and agreed to be recontacted for future surveys.
This is an empirical question:
Study after study has shown conservative people and children tend to be happier and have fewer issues with mental health.
Usually, I’d look for the evidence, but not today. If you can assert by simply typing it out, then I’ll reject it out of hand just as easily.
Sorry error on my part, they cited a meta-analysis.
A recent meta-analysis finds that an insecure attachment in early childhood
strongly predicts the onset of major depression in childhood and adolescence.
The results—summarized in meta-analyses—are clear: Authoritative parenting predicts fewer
mental health problems and delinquent behavior, both at the time of measurement and in
the future. Both harsh and overly permissive parenting predicts higher risk of mental health
problems and problematic behaviors, as does neglectful parenting.
Usually, I’d look for the evidence, but not today.
It’s in the study.
But the meta-analysis didn’t say that conservative people and children to tend to be happier and have fewer issues with mental health. It said that an authoritative parenting style predicts fewer mental health problems and delinquent behavior.
That suggests the questions: Are conservative parents statistically more likely to employ an authoritative parenting style? If yes, then we could conclude that kids of conservatives are less likely to have mental health problems. But that question was neither asked nor answered by anything I’ve read today.
The study is not about happiness. Happiness is defined in the positive, actively having and experiencing a particular feeling or set of them. Thus, a lack of mental health problems, which the study is about, is not happiness.
For once, I genuinely learned something useful here. The research call it the conservative-liberal happiness gap or the ideological happiness grap, and it’s…it’s true. It exists and is well-documented.
To paraphrase, conservatives are less concerned with equality of outcomes and more with equality of opportunity. While American liberals are depressed by inequalities in society, conservatives are okay with them provided that everyone has roughly the same opportunities to succeed. The latter is a more rosy and empowering view than the deterministic former.
They found that conservatives “expressed greater personal agency, more positive outlook, more transcendent moral beliefs, and a generalized belief in fairness” compared to liberals.
Conservatives are more satisfied with their lives, in general… report better mental health and fewer mental and emotional problems (all after controlling for age, sex, income, and education), and view social justice in ways that are consistent with binding moral foundations, such as by emphasizing personal agency and equity.
This is my default position. I will never take anyone’s word if I can understand something myself.
Yeah, I found the research that tried to tease out the causes. I think this paper was the best one I read. Section 6.6. Evaluative connotations was probably the best out of the paper:
According to philosophers of science, meaning is never found directly in the data; meaning is provided by interpreting the data from specific theoretical perspectives. Different perspectives can imply different evaluative connotations.
So the bits you quoted from realclearscience.com, from another perspective, could support the idea that conservatives are delusional in their belief that everyone has roughly the same opportunities to succeed. Perceived social mobility has declined after all, so, the idea that their happiness derives from the view that inequality doesn’t matter would then be false, i.e., delusional.
I’m not trying to make that argument, mind you. I’m just saying these studies that say conservatives are happier still seem suspect to me fundamentally even though I must admit their conclusions. I don’t think they’re wrong, per se…just…not objective? universal? right? idk.
Here’s the actual study
Naturally, public media reporting greatly overextends the research. At best, conservatives have kids have a higher than above average mental health index, or are less likely to self-harm, have fewer psychiatric visits and prescriptions. They are not necessarily happier.
Also, this is extremely interesting:
If a kid’s mental health is related to their parent’s conviction of their political ideology, then liberals need to get their shit together and move to the left. They’re not doing anyone any favors with whatever their preferred parenting style is…or their weak politics.
To be clear this study is a meta-analysis. It means it is not one study but a combination of data from many studies. Study after study has shown conservative people and children tend to be happier and have fewer issues with mental health. It isn’t shocking since the core of conservatism is stability and that is what children need to be successful. We provide them with the tools in life to control their destiny versus being a victim all the time. Their success is their own making vs some outside even being their destiny.
No it’s not…
From my link under the section “The Present Study”
This is an empirical question:
Usually, I’d look for the evidence, but not today. If you can assert by simply typing it out, then I’ll reject it out of hand just as easily.
Sorry error on my part, they cited a meta-analysis.
A recent meta-analysis finds that an insecure attachment in early childhood strongly predicts the onset of major depression in childhood and adolescence.
The results—summarized in meta-analyses—are clear: Authoritative parenting predicts fewer mental health problems and delinquent behavior, both at the time of measurement and in the future. Both harsh and overly permissive parenting predicts higher risk of mental health problems and problematic behaviors, as does neglectful parenting.
Oh, yeah, I read that.
But the meta-analysis didn’t say that conservative people and children to tend to be happier and have fewer issues with mental health. It said that an authoritative parenting style predicts fewer mental health problems and delinquent behavior.
That suggests the questions: Are conservative parents statistically more likely to employ an authoritative parenting style? If yes, then we could conclude that kids of conservatives are less likely to have mental health problems. But that question was neither asked nor answered by anything I’ve read today.
The study is not about happiness. Happiness is defined in the positive, actively having and experiencing a particular feeling or set of them. Thus, a lack of mental health problems, which the study is about, is not happiness.
That is a large part of happiness.
https://thefederalist.com/2019/11/04/research-finds-conservatives-are-more-happy-generous-and-purposeful-than-liberals/
From that article
https://ifstudies.org/blog/conservatives-happier-at-home-worried-for-the-nation
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1948550618768241
They have plenty of links in the articles.
It is very well known conservatives are happier than liberals, they give more to charity and have better sex lives.
https://redstate.com/brandon_morse/2022/01/04/aoc-is-wrong-conservatives-have-better-sex-lives-than-leftists-n501484
For once, I genuinely learned something useful here. The research call it the conservative-liberal happiness gap or the ideological happiness grap, and it’s…it’s true. It exists and is well-documented.
Obvious question is why?
This has rabbit hole potential…
I explained why but let’s not take my word for it. Let’s look at the research.
https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2022/08/27/why_are_conservatives_happier_than_liberals_849615.html#!
This is my default position. I will never take anyone’s word if I can understand something myself.
Yeah, I found the research that tried to tease out the causes. I think this paper was the best one I read. Section 6.6. Evaluative connotations was probably the best out of the paper:
So the bits you quoted from realclearscience.com, from another perspective, could support the idea that conservatives are delusional in their belief that everyone has roughly the same opportunities to succeed. Perceived social mobility has declined after all, so, the idea that their happiness derives from the view that inequality doesn’t matter would then be false, i.e., delusional.
I’m not trying to make that argument, mind you. I’m just saying these studies that say conservatives are happier still seem suspect to me fundamentally even though I must admit their conclusions. I don’t think they’re wrong, per se…just…not objective? universal? right? idk.