Trump-induced anxiety among Latina/os

Abstract

During the 2016 election, Donald Trump castigated unauthorized immigrants as “murderers and rapists.” During his presidency, he continued the use of this rhetoric, explicitly linking unauthorized migrants to threatening narratives. Here, we consider three questions: Did Donald Trump and his immigration positions serve as an “anxiety trigger” for Latina/os? Are individuals with contextually stigmatized attributes especially sensitive to Trump and his policy proposals? Is Spanish language itself, an attribute negatively stigmatized in the context of the immigration issue, sufficient to increase deportation anxiety? Utilizing survey experiments of Latina/os, we demonstrate that exposure to a Trump immigration cue is sufficient to increase anxiety about deportation. We also demonstrate that stigmatized attributes predict anxiety, but do not moderate the effect of the Trump cue. Lastly, we provide evidence that survey language affects anxiety among Latina/os. In Studies 1 ( n = 736) and 2 ( n = 1,040), we show that exposure to information about Trump’s immigration agenda significantly increases reports about deportation anxiety. In Study 3 ( n = 1,734), we show that the Trump exposure condition induces heightened anxiety but that Latina/o attributes (language proficiency and use, immigration status, assessed phenotype) and identity strength have an independent effect on deportation anxiety. In Study 4 ( n = 775), we randomized bilingual respondents into Spanish or English language survey protocols and found that comparable bilinguals exposed to Spanish language report higher levels of anxiety compared to English-language survey takers.

Latinos’ deportation fears by citizenship and legal status, 2007 to 2018

“…Missing data were multiply imputed across 10 datasets using chained equations with the mi impute chained command. To avoid model misspecification, the dependent and independent variables of interest were included in the imputation model, but imputed values of these variables were not used in the primary analyses (50). The imputation model included all variables used in the primary analysis, as well as one auxiliary variable (voter registration status) available in all survey years.…”

Stress from microaggressions and discrimination: A focus on Asian American, African American, Latina/o/x, and queer families.

“…Additionally, research on group-level emotions (Smith & Mackie, 2016) has suggested that members of stigmatized groups often experience negative emotions when other ingroup members are confronted with discrimination. Jones et al (2021) found that Latinx individuals experienced deportation-related anxiety when exposed to images of Donald Trump and information pertaining to his stance on immigration, particularly if they identified strongly with their Latinx heritage or possessed stigmatized Latinx attributes (e.g., darker skin, limited English proficiency).…”

Building Partnerships and Trust: Research With Vulnerable Immigrant Communities

“…Immigrant communities have endured excessive stress in recent years associated with anti-immigrant sentiments and COVID-19 (Chishti & Bolter, 2020; Fogel, 2021), yet simultaneously demonstrated resilience (Jones et al, 2021; United Nations, 2020). Anti-immigrant sentiments are visible in both the elevation of xenophobic behaviors and rhetoric (e.g., “build the wall,” the “Muslim Ban,” and the “Chinese virus”), as well as exclusionary immigration policies under former President Trump that instill fear of foreigners and perpetuate hate crimes against diverse immigrant groups (Gover et al, 2020; Moreno, 2020; United Nations, 2020).…”