Carlos Rueda-Cañón

Welcome! I am a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). I received my M.A. in political science from UNC in 2022 and my B.A. in Political Science from Vanderbilt University in 2018.

I study political behavior and psychology examining how underlying political dispositions shape political attitudes and engagement. My dissertation focuses on the political consequences of depression symptoms. In particular, I explore how symptoms of depression including hampered motivation, pervasive cognitive biases, and changes in emotional reactivity influence political participation and attitudes. In particular, I consider the role of depression as a source of psychological vulnerability in youth that can influence later partisan attachments. I am also interested in the ways that poor mental health can arise as a result of the political environment. I address these questions using large-scale panel data and pre-registered survey experiments.

My work has been supported by the Rappaport Family Foundation and the American Political Science Association, and includes a paper forthcoming in the Journal of Politics.