Shifting Between Worlds: Discrimination’s Role in Link Between Civic Engagement and Self-Worth

Abstract

Despite widespread anti-immigrant rhetoric, undocumented immigrants continue to thrive and resist harmful influences of discrimination through various forms of civic participation.However, undocumented young adults' sense of self-worth has yet to be linked with the established benefits of civic engagement, and no studies in the U.S. have tested this relationship.The current study sought to establish a positive connection between civic engagement and selfworth and further considered the role of immigration policy-related discrimination, hypothesizing that higher discrimination would strengthen this relationship, among a sample of undocumented and DACAmented college students in California. Participants (n = 1,231; M age = 21.81; 77.2% female; 89.8% Hispanic/Latinx) were recruited from various California State University (CSU) and University of California (UC) campuses to participate in an anonymous online survey between March and June 2020. Multiple regression analyses illuminated a complex relationship between the three main study variables; specifically, civic engagement and self-worth were not significantly positively related in the first model until discrimination was added to the second model, indicating that the relation between one's sense of self-worth and their civic engagement may not be apparent if levels of anti-immigrant discrimination are not taken into account. Discrimination was not a significant moderator of the connection between civic engagement and self-worth. The current study's findings not only address a significant gap in prior scholarship, but they also have implications for promoting support and awareness of undocumented voices and lived experiences. v