Abstract
Policy uncertainty threatens access to affordable medical care, yet few studies have examined how it shapes what people search for online. This study examines whether economic policy uncertainty predicts mental health information-seeking behavior by analyzing daily Wikipedia pageviews from July 2015 to April 2026 using a time series model. Results show that as economic policy uncertainty increases, there is an increase in pageviews on Wikipedia for suicide related information. When there is an increase in those searching for information on pages about depression and pages about anxiety, there is also an increase in pageviews on Wikipedia for suicide related information. An indicator for stock market volatility was not a significant predictor of pageviews on Wikipedia for suicide related information. The findings suggest that economic policy uncertainty predicts mental health information-seeking specifically about suicide rather than about mental health more broadly, as suicide is an extreme and immediate response to feelings of distress, whereas anxiety and depression are more long-term conditions.
Faculty Advisor
Dr. Christopher Olds
Department/Program
Political Science
Submission Type
in-person poster
Date
4-13-2026
Rights
Copyright the Author(s)
Recommended Citation
Massner, Kori
(2026)
"Pages of Despair: Economic Policy Uncertainty and Mental Health,"
SACAD: Scholarly Activities: Vol. 2026, Article 70.
Available at:
https://scholars.fhsu.edu/sacad/vol2026/iss2026/70
Included in
Health Policy Commons, Higher Education Commons, Other Political Science Commons, Psychiatric and Mental Health Commons
