"When the political becomes personal": evaluation of an elected president, election distress, and college students' psychological well-being

Alaysia M Brown; Katharine H Zeiders; Evelyn D Sarsar; Lindsay T Hoyt; Rajni L Nair

doi:10.1080/07448481.2022.2145896

"When the political becomes personal": evaluation of an elected president, election distress, and college students' psychological well-being

J Am Coll Health. 2023 Jan 3:1-11. doi: 10.1080/07448481.2022.2145896. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Alaysia M Brown¹, Katharine H Zeiders², Evelyn D Sarsar², Lindsay T Hoyt³, Rajni L Nair⁴

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Inequality in America Initiative, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
² Norton School of Human Ecology, Department of Family Studies and Human Development, University of Arizona, Tuscon, Arizona, USA.
³ Department of Psychology, Fordham University, Bronx, New York, USA.
⁴ College of Integrative Science and Arts, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA.

PMID: 36595487
DOI: 10.1080/07448481.2022.2145896

Abstract

Objective: Although emerging adults' civic engagement is generally associated with positive outcomes, concerns about an elected candidate's leadership ability and the implications of administrative turnover may negatively impact youths' well-being. Using longitudinal data collected during the 2016 election cycle, the current study examined whether negative evaluation of a presidential candidate-who is eventually elected-may be indirectly associated with college students' psychological well-being due to increased election distress.Participants: 286 college-attending emerging adults (M_age= 20, SD_age = 1.40) participated in the current study.Methods: Path models linking evaluation of Trump's leadership ability (pre-election) to psychological well-being (approx. 100 days in office) via election distress (presidential inauguration) were computed.Results: Reporting lower confidence in Trump's leadership ability prior to the election was associated with greater election distress 3 months post-election, and in turn, poorer psychological well-being 6 months post-election.Conclusion: Findings underscore the importance of centering college students' well-being within a broader sociopolitical context.

Keywords: College students; elections; mental health; political attitudes; sociopolitical stress.