Anti-Immigration Media Portrayals and Latinx Well-Being

Abstract

The current study examined the immediate impact of exposure to anti-immigration sentiments on the psychological well-being of Latinx young adults. A quasiexperimental, mixed-factorial design was used to analyze differences in mood, stress, ethnic identification, and motivation to take action after exposure to a video stressor across four groups: immigrants from Latin America, first-generation Latinx Americans, second-generation and up Latinx Americans, and non-Latinx, nonimmigrant, White Americans. Three hundred forty participants, ages 18–30, were randomly assigned to either an experimental condition involving an anti-immigration video or a control condition involving a multivitamin video. As hypothesized, those who viewed the anti-immigration video exhibited significantly higher levels of negative affect (p < .001; ηp2 =.06), stress (p < .001; ηp2 =.04), and motivation to take action (p < .001; ηp2 =.07) than those who viewed the multivitamin video. Additionally, Ethnicity/Generation American was associated with higher negative affect (p < .001, ηp2 =.06), stress (p = .01, ηp2 =.04), and motivation to take action (p < .001, ηp2 =.10) after video viewings, such that immigrants from Latin American countries and first-generation Latinx Americans tended to have greater levels than the other groups (pairwise comparison ps < .05). Contrary to our hypothesis, results indicated that firstgeneration Latinx Americans (p = .01) and non-Latinx, nonimmigrant participants (p < .001) experienced a significant decrease in ethnic identification after viewing the anti-immigration video. Our results indicate that, across the differing Ethnicities/Generations American, participants are impacted by anti-immigration sentiments in the media.