Radicalization relates to depression?

This pre publication paper reports on a survey of 608 Bengali and Pakistani people in Bradford and London. It was looking for a correlation between sympathy for violent protest and terrorism and various psychological and social markers.

They found one. Depression.

screenshot-2016-10-19-11-43-18

Aims

To test the impact of depressive symptoms, adverse life events and political engagement on sympathies for violent protest and terrorism (SVPT).

Method

A cross-sectional survey of a representative sample of Pakistani and Bangladeshi men and women from two English cities. Weighted, multivariable, logistic regression yielded population estimates of association (odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals) against a binary outcome of SVPT derived from a three-group solution following cluster analysis.

Results

Depressive symptoms were associated with a higher risk of SVPT (OR = 2.59, 95% CI 1.59–4.23, P < 0.001), but mediated little of the overall effects of life events and political engagement, which were associated with a lower risk of SVPT (death of a close friend: OR = 0.24, 95% CI 0.07–0.74; donating money to a charity: OR = 0.52, 95% CI 0.3–0.9).

Interesting. I don’t think the authors would do the next step, which would be to compare this minority with matched controls from the general English public. Or consider that sympathies for Jihad may be a means of coping with living in England, where diversity is crumbling societal foundations.