Finnish study finds correlation between wokeism and higher levels of anxiety and depression

By lauraharris // 2024-03-20

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A newly released Finnish study has found a correlation between woke ideology and heightened instances of anxiety and depression. The rise of critical social justice discourse has sparked discussions in Finland for the last couple of years. However, empirical data on its prevalence and effects have been lacking. With that, study author and doctor of psychology Oskari Lahtinen from the University of Turku in southwestern Finland created a tool to assess critical social justice attitudes and explore their implications. "This debate was largely data-free and it could thus be considered a worthwhile question to study how prevalent these attitudes are. No reliable and valid instrument existed prior to the study to assess the extent and prevalence of these attitudes in different populations, so I set out to develop one," Lahtinen explained. The study, titled "Construction and validation of a scale for assessing critical social justice attitudes" and published in the Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, involves two phases. During the initial phase, Lahtinen analyzed academic papers on feminism, race and LGBTQ+ issues to formulate test questions related to beliefs about systemic oppression. The test was given to 851 college students and faculty from Turku University, other Finnish universities and the general public. In the second phase, Lahtinen refined the scale and added more questions based on the initial findings. Lahtinen then conducted a nationwide survey of over 5,000 participants through Helsingin Sanomat, Finland's largest newspaper, to reach a broad cross-section of the Finnish population. The 5,851 participants were asked to evaluate their agreement or disagreement with statements commonly associated with woke culture, such as beliefs regarding racial income disparities and transgender rights. Lahtinen developed this seven-item scale, known as the Critical Social Justice Attitudes Scale:

If white people have on average a higher level of income than black people, it is because of racism.
University reading lists should include fewer white or European authors.
Microaggressions should be challenged often and actively.
Trans women who compete with women in sports are not helping women's rights. (reverse scored)
We don't need to talk more about the color of people's skin.
A white person cannot understand how a black person feels equally well as another black person.
A member of a privileged group can adopt features or cultural elements of a less privileged group. (reverse scored)

Woke participants have higher levels of anxiety and depression

Participants who strongly endorsed woke ideology reported higher levels of anxiety and depression. However, the study noted that this association was more closely linked to political orientation than to critical social justice attitudes alone. The study also found notable differences across demographic and social groups. Women and left-wing political affiliates were more likely to endorse these beliefs, while men and those aligned with right-wing politics showed lower agreement. (Related: WOKE SCIENCE: 29% of British scientists now think sex is not binary, poll finds.) Learn more about the spread of woke ideology all over the world at Wokies.news. Watch this episode of the "Health Ranger Report" as Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, reports on the consequences of the spread of woke ideology and how it could lead to the scrubbing of any cultural memory for white people. This video is from the Health Ranger Report channel on Brighteon.com.

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Woke participants have higher levels of anxiety and depression

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