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

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.