Table 1.
Definition of variables.
| Type | Concept | Measure | Level of measurement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outcome | Poor physical health | Self-reported days of poor physical health per month | Discrete (0–30) |
| Poor mental health | Self-reported days of poor mental health per month | ||
| Independent variables | Mass political polarization | Perceived difference between self vs. average state voter | Continuous (0–10) (0 = lowest, 10 = greatest) |
| Perceived difference between self. vs. average US voter | |||
| Covariates | Partisanship | Party identification | Ordinal (1–7) (1 = Strong Dem; 7 = Strong Rep.) |
| Strength of partisanship | Ordinal (0–3) (0 = nonpartisan; 1 = weak partisan; 2 = moderate partisan; 3 = strong partisan) | ||
| Health conditions | BMI 1 | Continuous | |
| At risk from smoking 2 | Binary (yes/no) | ||
| Health insurance | % uninsured | Binary (yes/no) | |
| Basic demographics | Age | Continuous | |
| Gender | Binary (woman/other) | ||
| Income 3 | Ordinal ranking from 1 to 11 (lowest to highest) | ||
| Race/ethnicity | Categorical (Black, White, Asian, Hispanic, and other race) | ||
| (%) Some college or more | Binary (yes/no) | ||
| Extended demographics | Employment status | Categorical (employed, unemployed, not in labor force) | |
| Marital status 4 | Binary (never married: yes/no, where no = married, separated, widowed, or divorced) | ||
| Religion | Categorical (Protestant, Catholic, other Christian, Jewish, Muslim, other religion, and no religion) | ||
| Fixed effects | State | State | 50 US states |
BMI was calculated after surveying respondents’ self-reported height and weight.
Risk from smoking: we adhere to the BRFSS definition for risk from smoking, defined as a person (1) having smoked at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetime and (2) currently smoking every day or some days.
Income was simplified into an 11-point scale, where 1 = less than $10,00, 2 = $10,000–$19,999, 3 = $20,000–$29,999, 4 = $30,000–$49,999, 5 = $50,000–$69,999, 6 = $70,000–$99,999, 7 = $100,000–$124,999, 8 = $125,000–$149,999, 9 = $150,000–$199,999, 10 = $200,000–$249,999, and 11 = $250,000 or more.
Marital status was simplified into 2 categories: “never married” (36.9% in our sample vs. 32.3% in the population), and “other” (63.1% in our sample, vs. 67.7% in the population). Raked weighting required us to simplify categories due to the very small percentages of widowed (9∼11%), divorced (∼5%), or separated individuals (∼2%), relative to other categories.