Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester, 300 Crittenden Boulevard, Rochester, NY, 14642, USA.
Department of History, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA; Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA.
Soc Sci Med. 2019 Feb;223:1-7. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.01.029. Epub 2019 Jan 21.
Previous research findings across a variety of nations show that affiliation with the conservative party is associated with greater longevity; however, it is thus far unclear what characteristics contribute to this relationship. We examine the political party/mortality relationship in the United States context. The goal of this paper is two-fold: first, we seek to replicate the mortality difference between Republicans and Democrats in two samples, controlling for demographic confounders. Second, we attempt to isolate and test two potential contributors to the relationship between political party affiliation and mortality: (1) socioeconomic status and (2) dispositional traits reflecting a personal responsibility ethos, as described by the Republican party. Graduate and sibling cohorts from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study were used to estimate mortality risk from 2004 to 2014. In separate Cox proportional hazards models controlling for age and sex, we adjusted first for markers of socioeconomic status (such as wealth and education), then for dispositional traits (such as conscientiousness and active coping), and finally for both socioeconomic status and dispositional traits together. Clogg's method was used to test the statistical significance of attenuation in hazard ratios for each model. In both cohorts, Republicans exhibited lower mortality risk compared to Democrats (Hazard Ratios = 0.79 and 0.73 in graduate and sibling cohorts, respectively [p < 0.05]). This relationship was explained, in part, by socioeconomic status and traits reflecting personal responsibility. Together, socioeconomic factors and dispositional traits account for about 52% (graduates) and 44% (siblings) of Republicans' survival advantage. This study suggests that mortality differences between political parties in the US may be linked to structural and individual determinants of health. These findings highlight the need for better understanding of political party divides in mortality rates.
先前在多个国家进行的研究结果表明，与保守党结盟与长寿有关；然而，目前尚不清楚是什么特征促成了这种关系。我们在美国背景下研究政党/死亡率的关系。本文的目的有两个：首先，我们试图在两个样本中复制共和党人和民主党人之间的死亡率差异，控制人口统计学上的混杂因素。其次，我们试图分离并测试两个可能导致政党归属与死亡率之间关系的因素：（1）社会经济地位，（2）反映共和党个人责任精神的性格特征。威斯康星州纵向研究的研究生和兄弟姐妹队列被用来估计 2004 年至 2014 年的死亡率风险。在分别控制年龄和性别的 Cox 比例风险模型中，我们首先调整了社会经济地位的标志物（如财富和教育），然后调整了性格特征（如尽责性和积极应对），最后同时调整了社会经济地位和性格特征。Clogg 方法用于检验每个模型中危险比衰减的统计显著性。在两个队列中，与民主党人相比，共和党人的死亡率风险较低（研究生和兄弟姐妹队列的危险比分别为 0.79 和 0.73[P<0.05]）。这种关系部分是由社会经济地位和反映个人责任的特征来解释的。社会经济因素和性格特征共同解释了共和党人生存优势的约 52%（研究生）和 44%（兄弟姐妹）。这项研究表明，美国政党之间的死亡率差异可能与健康的结构和个体决定因素有关。这些发现强调了需要更好地理解政党在死亡率方面的分歧。
