ADHD and political participation: An observational study

PLOS ONE RESEARCH ARTICLE ADHD and political participation: An observational study Israel Waismel-Manor ID1*, Yael R. Kaplan ID1, Shaul R. Shenhav2, Yair Zlotnik3, Shira Dvir Gvirsman4, Gal Ifergane3 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 OPEN ACCESS Citation: Waismel-Manor I, Kaplan YR, Shenhav SR, Zlotnik Y, Dvir Gvirsman S, Ifergane G (2023) ADHD and political participation: An observational study. PLoS ONE 18(2): e0280445. https://doi.org/ 10.1371/journal.pone.0280445 1 Department of Government and Political Theory Division, School of Political Science, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel, 2 Department of Political Science, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel, 3 Department of Neurology, Soroka University Medical Center, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba, Israel, 4 Department of Communication, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel * Abstract Background and objective Over the past decade, researchers have been seeking to understand the consequences of adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) for different types of everyday behaviors. In this study, we investigated the associations between ADHD and political participation and attitudes, as ADHD may impede their active participation in the polity. Editor: Jean-François Daoust, University of Edinburgh, UNITED KINGDOM Received: July 23, 2022 Accepted: December 31, 2022 Published: February 21, 2023 Copyright: © 2023 Waismel-Manor et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Data Availability Statement: The data curated can be found in the following data repository: https:// www.openicpsr.org/openicpsr/project/183882/ version/V1/view. Funding: This research was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (Grant No. 2315/18). I.W.M AND S.D.G Obtained funding. The sponsors or funders did not play any role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript - No. Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Methods This observational study used data from an online panel studying the adult Jewish population in Israel, collected prior the national elections of April 2019 (N = 1369). ADHD symptoms were assessed using the 6-item Adult ADHD Self-Report (ASRS-6). Political participation (traditional and digital), news consumption habits, and attitudinal measures were assessed using structured questionnaires. Multivariate linear regression analyses were conducted to analyze the association between ADHD symptoms (ASRS score <17) and reported political participation and attitudes. Results 200 respondents (14.6%) screened positive for ADHD based on the ASRS-6. Our findings show that individuals with ADHD are more likely to participate in politics than individuals without ADHD symptoms (B = 0.303, SE = 0.10, p = .003). However, participants with ADHD are more likely to be passive consumers of news, waiting for current political news to reach them instead of actively searching for it (B = 0.172, SE = 0.60, p = .004). They are also more prone to support the idea of silencing other opinions (B = 0.226, SE = 0.10, p = .029). The findings hold when controlling for age, sex, level of education, income, political orientation, religiosity, and stimulant therapy for ADHD symptoms. PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0280445 February 21, 2023 1 / 18 PLOS ONE ADHD and political participation Conclusions Overall, we find evidence that individuals with ADHD display a unique pattern of political activity, including greater participation and less tolerance of others’ views, but not necessarily showing greater active interest in politics. Our findings add to a growing body of literature that examines the impact of ADHD on different types of everyday behaviors. Introduction Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neuropsychiatric syndrome characterized by marked lack of attention and/or hyperactivity and impulsiveness [1]. These symptoms affect individuals’ ability to function in social and professional contexts. While initially ADHD was considered a childhood condition, an increasing body of literature suggests that it should be recognized as persisting into adolescence and adulthood [2–4]; Indeed, the DSM-5 classifies ADHD as a lifelong condition [5]. Substantial efforts have been devoted to identifying the condition’s prevalence in the adult population (estimates range from 1% to 7.3%) [6–8] and its comorbidities (depression, anxiety, addictions, memory problems, and others) [9–13]. In addition, researchers are working to understand the effects of ADHD on social behavior and achievement. This line of inquiry has found ADHD to be correlated with educational underachievement, unemployment, involvement in motor vehicle accidents, and criminal behavior [14–17]. Political participation—the voluntary actions engaged in by members of the public in the political arena—is considered a cornerstone of functioning democracies, enabling nonprofessionals-citizens to influence public policy and the elected officials who shape those policies [18]. Traditionally, some specific activities have become known as conventional or institutionalized modes of participation [19]. These include actions such as voting, contacting politicians, or participating in a demonstration or a political convention. It is well-established that various factors affect levels of political participation, including age, income, education, and religiosity [20]. Previous work also examined the association between neuropsychiatric conditions and political behavior. For example, Sund et al. (2017) find that various chronic conditions, including epilepsy, dementia, psychotic mental disease, and other degenerative brain diseases, are associated with voting turnout [21]. Others have explored the negative effect of depression on voting [22–25]. Bernardi et al. (2022) indicate a negative relationship between depression and external political efficacy [26]. However, to the best of our knowledge, the association between political participation and ADHD has not previously been studied. The association between ADHD and political participation deserves more attention both because it is a relatively common condition and because of its distinctive characteristics [27]. Several reasons that raise the expectation that ADHD symptoms will be associated with lower levels of political participation. For example, studies indicate that political participation requires resources such as time, money, and civic skills that comprise communications and organizational capacities [28, 29]. Accordingly, more educated individuals with higher incomes and higher socioeconomic status tend to have more extensive resou (...truncated)