Political polarization poses health risks, new analysis concludes

News coverage of the 2024 election season has often centered on how partisan division has affected our politics. But a new analysis shows that political polarization also poses significant health risks—by obstructing the implementation of legislation and policies aimed at keeping Americans healthy, by discouraging individual action to address health needs, such as getting a flu shot, and by boosting the spread of misinformation that can reduce trust in health professionals.
“Compared to other high-income countries, the United States has a disadvantage when it comes to the health of its citizens,” says Jay Van Bavel, a professor in New York University’s Department of Psychology and an author of the analysis(link is external and opens in a new window), which appears in the journal Nature Medicine. “America’s growing political polarization is only exacerbating this shortcoming.”
But despite the challenges of political polarization, the analysis, which considered more than 100 experimental papers and reviews, pointed to potential ways to both minimize its impact on Americans’ health and promote health-care practices. (author introduction) #P4HEwebinarNovember2024