Young Adults’ Perceptions of the U.S. National Anthem Protests: Examining the Role of Form of Expression, Empathic Concern, & Perspective-Taking

The US national anthem protests, which is a movement that began when some athletes, most notably Colin Kaepernick, chose to not simply stand during the US national anthem, has had a major influence in numerous ways on people, regardless of whether they view it favorably or unfavorably. This study examines young adults’ attitudes towards these anthem protests. This study is going to examine some possible determinants of the positive or negative perceptions about the anthem protest. The study will examine how young adults perceive the national anthem protest, positively or negatively. It will also determine if participants see one form or action of protest as more appropriate than the other. The main factors that will be measured are their level of empathic concern and perspective-taking and the analysis will examine how these factors influence young adults\u27 perceptions of the anthem protest. The results found that there are more favorable attitudes towards the anthem protest than unfavorable. Participants see kneeling as a more appropriate form of protest over standing while raising a fist and sitting during the national anthem (NA). The study also found that empathic concern is related to attitudes towards NA protest and punishment. Implication that is taken away from this study is that empathic concern is more required than perspective-taking when looking at perceptions of NA protest