ABSTRACT
This chapter presents theoretical framework and hypotheses, which build on existing theories of political engagement. It suggests that theories emphasizing social context and identity, as well as self-interest theory, also offer useful theoretical pathways for integrating health into models of political engagement. In terms of political engagement, the studies rely on three types of indicators, which are effectively identical with our operationalization: voting; other forms of participation; and political orientations. Other forms of political participation are slowly, but surely, receiving more scholarly interest, although cognitive engagement has received much less consideration from academics in the field. The lack of a better understanding of the role of political institutions and context is partly due to deficiencies in the theoretical trajectories for explaining health and political engagement. The contextual model of political behaviour argues that social environments affect the way people behave politically and consist of various social institutions, which together form the context in which a person makes political choices.
