Friday, November 30, 2007

Is Gallup THAT Unimaginative???

Via TPM I found this.

Repubs of all demographic breakdowns self report higher mental health than independents or democrats and all that Gallup comes up with is, "The reason the relationship exists between being a Republican and more positive mental health is unknown, and one cannot say whether something about being a Republican causes a person to be more mentally healthy, or whether something about being mentally healthy causes a person to choose to become a Republican (or whether some third variable is responsible for causing both to be parallel)."

Allow me to gently suggest that these nimrods have missed an obvious possibility in SELF-REPORTED mental health. Conservatives who deny the validity of mental health problems might JUST be more inclined than others to deny that they have mental health issues.

Just sayin'.

3 comments:

Mrs. Pedant said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mrs. Pedant said...

Now that I think about it, every repub I know is in denial about some sort of mental issue. (Yes, Mr. Pedant, I'm thinking of my mother.)

Self-reporting in this category pre-supposes the people being surveyed have the background knowledge to answer the question. That's the flaw in the system.

Anonymous said...

What the fuck is behind the idea of self-reported mental health in the first place? Do you really think that people like--say--Charles Manson would take a look at a mental health survey and say "Oh Shit! I'm not really in good mental shape!" Do you really think that Dick Cheney thinks, even for a water-boarding second, "Holy shootemup fuckit!!! I may not really be a stable person." I think it very likely that people in the worst mental health report that they have perfect mental health. It's not just about denial--people who are losing their fucking minds probably aren't the best judges of mental health. Self-Report that, Gallup. And oh yeah--I forgot to say: "I'm in absolutely perfect mental health."