Associations between emotional responses to the Trump presidency and activism among underrepresented college students

Abstract

In the current study, we explored emotions related to the Trump presidency and their associations with types of activism among a sample of underrepresented college students. Participants in the current study included 303 underrepresented college students. We conducted structural equation modeling to assess associations between negatively valenced emotions in reaction to the Trump presidency and specific types of activism. Three categories of activism emerged: resource mobilization, collective action, and higher‐accessibility activism. We found that anger was most consistently associated with participation in various types of activism. Fear was positively associated with participation in collective action, but only among those who felt personally affected by the Trump presidency. Among those who did not feel personally affected by the Trump presidency, sadness was associated with less frequent participation in higher‐accessibility activism. Findings lend support to the notion that distinct emotional responses are associated with different types of political engagement.

System‐based emotions in Turkey and support for versus opposition to the Gezi Park protests

“…The research literature on collective action has focused largely on negative emotions such as anger (e.g., Musgrove & McGarty, 2008; Van Zomeren et al., 2008), discontent (Opp, 1998), hatred (Shuman et al., 2016), contempt (Tausch et al., 2011; Wagoner et al., 2021), guilt (Solak et al., 2017), shame (Shepherd et al., 2013), and sadness (Albright & Hurd, 2021), as well as fear and anxiety (Ayanian et al., 2021; Renström & Bäck, 2021). However, some studies have identified positive emotions that may facilitate or undermine collective action.…”