Role of Income, Education, and Physical Activity in Mediating the Relationship Between Self-Rated Health and Political Participation of European Citizens

Marcelo de Maio Nascimento (), Adilson Marques, Élvio Rúbio Gouveia and Andreas Ihle
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Marcelo de Maio Nascimento: Department of Physical Education, Federal University of Vale do São Francisco, Petrolina 56304-917, Brazil
Adilson Marques: CIPER, Faculty of Human Kinetics, University of Lisbon, 1649-004 Lisbon, Portugal
Élvio Rúbio Gouveia: Swiss Center of Expertise in Life Course Research LIVES, 1227 Carouge, Switzerland
Andreas Ihle: Swiss Center of Expertise in Life Course Research LIVES, 1227 Carouge, Switzerland

Societies, 2025, vol. 15, issue 10, 1-17

Abstract: Background: Health problems can be an impediment during aging to political participation (PP), including voting. Furthermore, factors such as income, education, and level of physical activity (PA) also influence the PP of older adults. We examined whether income, education, and PA mediated the relationship between self-rated health (SRH) and PP in voters and non-voters aged 50 and over from 20 European countries. Methods: Data were taken from the European Social Survey. We included 14,701 individuals (64.63 ± 9.69 years), of which 52.5% were women. Results: Multivariate analyses suggested that increased SRH, income, education, and PA scores represented greater odds for intensifying PP in voters and non-voters. Mediation analyses showed that income, education, and PA partially mediated the association between SRH and PP among voters. Among non-voters, income was not a significant mediator of the association between SRH and PP. The largest mediated proportion occurred in the SRH → PA → PP path of voters at 35.34% and non-voters at 36.38%. The direct effect of SRH on the PP was verified only among voters. Conclusions: The findings contribute to a better understanding of the PP of individuals aged 50 and over and may contribute to planning strategies to increase PP in Europe.

Keywords: voting; Europe; political participation; self-rated health; social determinants of health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 A14 P P0 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 Z1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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