Exposure to televised political campaign advertisements aired in the United States 2015–2016 election cycle and psychological distress

• Published in: Social science & medicine (1982) Vol. 277; p. 113898
• Main Authors: Niederdeppe, Jeff, Avery, Rosemary J., Liu, Jiawei, Gollust, Sarah E., Baum, Laura, Barry, Colleen L., Welch, Brendan, Tabor, Emmett, Lee, Nathaniel W., Fowler, Erika Franklin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.05.2021; Pergamon Press Inc
• Subjects: Adults; Advertisements; Advertising; Anxiety; Cancer; Congressional elections; Health communication; Households; Insomnia; Mail surveys; Medical conditions; Medical diagnosis; Medicine; Mental depression; Mental health; Physicians; Political advertising; Political campaigns; Political parties; Politics; Presidential elections; Presidents; Psychological distress; Psychological research; Race; Respondents; Television viewing; Viewers; United States > US; Politics; Political advertising; Psychological distress; Health communication; Mental health
• ISSN: 0277-9536; 1873-5347
• DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.113898

Prior research suggests the potential for political campaign advertisements to increase psychological distress among viewers. The current study tests relationships between estimated exposure to campaign advertising and the odds of respondents reporting that a doctor told them they have anxiety, depression, insomnia, or (as a negative control) cancer. A secondary analysis of U.S. data on televised campaign ad airings from January 2015 to November 2016 (n = 4,659,038 airings) and five waves of a mail survey on television viewing patterns and self-reported medical conditions from November 2015 to March 2017 (n = 28,199 respondents from n = 16,204 unique households in the U.S.). A 1 percent increase in the estimated volume of campaign advertising exposure was associated with a 0.06 [95% CI 0.03–0.09] percentage point increase in the odds of a respondent being told by a doctor that they have anxiety in the past 12 months. We observed this association regardless of the political party of the ad sponsor, the political party of the respondent, or their statistical interaction. We also observed this association for both Presidential campaign ads and non-Presidential (including local, state, and U.S. congressional election) campaign ads, providing evidence that these relationships were not driven by the unique divisiveness of the race between Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton. Some topic-specific models offered additional evidence of association between estimated volume of campaign advertising exposure and the odds of being told by a doctor that they have depression or insomnia, but these patterns were less consistent across models that utilized different categories of campaign exposure. Campaign ad exposure was not associated with cancer, which served as a negative control comparison. There was a consistent positive association between the volume of campaign advertising exposure and a reported diagnosis of anxiety among American adults. •On average respondents were exposed to over 500 campaign ad airings in 2015–2016.•Campaign ad exposure was positively associated with reported diagnoses of anxiety.•Patterns of association were similar across political parties.•Results were not driven by Presidential campaign ads for Trump or Clinton.