Researchers at Cornell University probed how exposure to the democratic process of deciding elected officials in political participation may induce anxiety among the general public.
In a study released in Social Science & Medicine, televised political advertisements from past American campaigns for the presidency were investigated.
In the study, surveys were sent to consumers of televised political ads, assessing their mental well-being.
Ad exposure involving politicized content was associated with heightened anxiety among the respondents.
“Political ads in general have gotten increasingly negative, because research has shown that people pay attention to and remember those types of ads more than positive messages,” a news release of the findings state.
“If you know that these political ads are going to potentially increase the number of people who need treatment for anxiety, say, then you can prepare as a sort of public health infrastructure by offering by broadening treatment or having treatment plans ready for how you might deal with this particular form of anxiety,” authors of the study also inferred in the release.
