An Examination of State-Level Personality Variation and Physician Aid in Dying Legislation

Abstract

The social dialogue and potential controversy surrounding physician aid in dying may be linked to aggregate differences in state personality profiles. States with physician aid in dying legislation tend to be areas where constituents are on average more open minded and experience greater emotional stability. More work is needed to ascertain whether the experiences of receiving and providing end-of-life care may differ across these regions, particularly in relation to conversations around physician aid in dying.

Statewide Differences in Personality Associated with Geographic Disparities in Access to Palliative Care: Findings on Openness

“…Previous studies have used comparable methods of measuring socioeconomic status (SES) 11 and political orientation. 26 In a post hoc sensitivity analysis, we used the CAPC data 9 to control for the proportion of hospitals within each state that were nonprofit and the proportion with at least 300 beds, and we used U.S. Census data 35 to control for state-level differences in rurality.…”

“…Individuals high in openness are curious, flexible, imaginative, novelty-seeking, and willing to try new things, 20,21 and they are more accepting of novel medical care. 25 Also, states comprised individuals higher in openness are more likely to have enacted physician aid in dying legislation, 26 suggesting a willingness to experiment with offering different models of serious illness care, even controversial ones. Accordingly, we anticipated that the cultural mindset of states higher in openness might facilitate greater acceptance of providing and utilizing palliative care.…”

Geopersonality of Preventable Death in the United States: Anger-Prone States and Opioid Deaths

“…5,6 These geographic differences in personality may have emergent and contextual influences on local and regional cultures and are associated with political, social, and health-care outcomes including healthcare legislation and access to supportive care. 4,7,8 A state population's aggregate propensity toward anger may be of particular relevance to understanding why some states are disproportionately impacted by opioid overdose death. A state-level, opioid overdose rates could be increasing more rapidly over time in areas where frustration resulting from manufacturing job loss is experienced by a population with a greater aggregate propensity toward angry, irritable, hostile, and impulsive reactions to stress.…”