Patriotism and the impact on perceived threat and immigration attitudes

Cynthia Willis-Esqueda, Rosa Hazel Delgado, Karina Pedroza

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

24 Scopus citations

Abstract

Patriotism and threat have been shown to predict immigration attitudes. We suggest that patriotism is influential in producing threat, and such threat drives anti-immigration attitudes, but this relationship is different for Whites and Latinos. All participants completed a patriotism scale (blind and constructive patriotism measures), a threat scale (realistic and symbolic threat), and anti-immigration attitude scale. Latinos showed lower blind patriotism, realistic threat, symbolic threat, and anti-immigration attitudes compared to Whites, with no differences in constructive patriotism. Threat partially mediated the relationship between blind patriotism and anti-immigration attitudes for Whites and fully mediated the relationship for Latinos. Threat partially mediated the relationship for cultural patriotism and anti-immigration attitude for Whites but not for Latinos. Implications for public policy and education concerning immigrant attitudes are discussed.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)114-125
Number of pages12
JournalJournal of Social Psychology
Volume157
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2 2017

Keywords

  • Immigration
  • Latinos
  • patriotism
  • threat

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Social Psychology

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