People with ‘woke’ beliefs experience higher anxiety and depression: study

“Woke” beliefs are associated with increased instances of anxiety and depression according to a new study published in the Scandinavian Journal of Psychology.

Released earlier this month, the study involved nearly 6,000 participants in Finland, including university faculty, students and the general public. The CSJAS was based on theoretical frameworks from intersectional feminism, critical race theory and queer theory.

Researches developed a seven-item scale, known as the Critical Social Justice Attitudes Scale (CSJAS), to assess attitudes toward “critical social justice,” defined as systemic injustices affecting various identity groups. The CSJAS evaluates agreement or disagreement with seven statements, with each statement targeting a specific aspect of social justice discourse, including systemic racism, microaggressions and gender identity.

The scale reads as follows:

• “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)

For the statements that are “reverse scored,” agreement indicates a stance opposite to what’s written. Reverse scoring allows all answers to be interpreted in the same direction, even when questions are asked in different ways, some positively and some negatively.