Within‐Person Relationships between Adolescents’ Daily Election Exposure, Negative Election‐Related Emotions, and Motivation to Address Social Justice Issues

Abstract

Election‐related emotions, particularly negative emotions, are one factor that can shape and be shaped by motivation to engage with social change. Negative emotions (i.e., anger, fear, anxiety, disgust, sadness, embarrassment, and guilt) can serve as a catalyst for engaging in social change. This daily diary study explored associations between adolescents’ daily experiences of negative election‐related emotions, election‐related exposure, and motivation to address social justice issues (i.e., racism/discrimination and social/economic inequalities). Over the course of three weeks, throughout the 2024 U.S. Election, thirty‐six adolescents aged 13–18 living in the swing state of North Carolina who mostly identified as White, female, and Democratic ( M = 15.61, SD = 1.23) reported 445 daily observations. Multilevel models in which days (Level 1) were nested within people (Level 2) revealed that participants’ motivation to address social justice issues and negative election‐related emotions fluctuated significantly from day to day. Further, participants tended to report more negative election‐related emotions on days with higher election‐related exposure. On days with higher negative election‐related emotions, participants tended to report enhanced motivation to address racism. However, effects were small, indicating that there is still much to explore regarding the factors that predict daily fluctuations in adolescent motivation to address social justice issues, especially in a polarized political world.