The Effect of the Political Climate on Latinos’ Wellbeing

The presidential election of Donald Trump significantly influenced various aspects of the population of the United States. Given Trump’s emphasis on anti-immigrant policies, it is essential for professionals and practitioners to better understand how the Latin population is experiencing and responding to today’s political climate. Participants in this study ranged in age from 18 to 64 and were from Latin descent, which consists of persons, cultures, or countries related to the Spanish language, culture, people, or to Spain in general. Ninety-six participants completed the quantitative measures including The Adult Hope Scale (HS), Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), the Beck Anxiety Inventory, the Brief RCOPE. Participants also responded to qualitative questions regarding their spirituality or religiosity as well as their perspective of the political climate. Eleven themes were extracted from the qualitative data including the following: feelings of fear/scared/terrified, anger, hatred, sadness/disappointment, shame, embarrassment, incompetence, negative actions towards minorities, racism, and neutral/positive responses. A series of correlations were conducted, and results found the following correlations: a negative correlation between a negative view of Trump’s presidency and the Positive Brief RCOPE, r = - .242, p \u3c .01, a positive correlation between a positive view of Trump’s presidency and the Positive Brief RCOPE, r = .230, p \u3c .01, a positive correlation between a positive view of Trump’s presidency and participants total Conner-Davidson Resilience score, r = .237, p \u3c .01, a positive correlation between the Negative Brief RCOPE and the Beck Anxiety Inventory, r = .365, p \u3c .01, a positive correlation between the total Hope Scale and the Connor-Davidson Resilience scale, r = .658, p \u3c .01, and a positive correlation between the total hope PA and the Connor-Davidson Resilience scale, r = .660, p \u3c .01. This study contributes to the limited research on the Latin population by examining their resilience, anxiety, hope, and spirituality