The relationship between election-related social media activism and college students’ negative future expectancy

Zoe Waller; Ammie G. Yu; Kamryn M. Kadotani; Samantha L. McMichael; Virginia S. Y. Kwan

doi:10.29329/jsomer.82

Authors

Zoe Waller Arizona State University, USA
Ammie G. Yu Arizona State University, USA https://orcid.org/0009-0007-5212-9569
Kamryn M. Kadotani Arizona State University, USA https://orcid.org/0009-0001-4782-503X
Samantha L. McMichael Arizona State University, USA
Virginia S. Y. Kwan Arizona State University, USA

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29329/jsomer.82

Keywords:

social media, political activism, negative future expectancy, future-anxiety, depression

Abstract

This research investigates the extent of social media-based activism engagement among college students during the 2024 United States Presidential Election and explores its connection to students’ negative expectations for the future, specifically negative affect, depression symptoms, future anxiety, and self-efficacy. Previous research shows a complex dynamic where online political activism is linked to both higher psychological distress and a stronger sense of identity and purpose. To clarify these relationships, data were gathered from 189 university students about their willingness to engage in various forms of social media election activism. The findings revealed that students participated in election-related social media activism at relatively low levels. Analyses showed that engagement was not significantly related to negative affect or depressive symptoms. However, higher levels of engagement significantly predicted increased future anxiety and greater self-efficacy. These results imply that social media activism can serve both as a source of psychological stress (e.g., anxiety about the future) and a protective factor (e.g., increased self-efficacy). Additionally, political party affiliation did not significantly influence these relationships. This study offers valuable insights into how digital political involvement affects psychological well-being during times of political uncertainty.

Author Biographies

Zoe Waller, Arizona State University, USA

Zoe Waller is a first-year graduate student at Northeastern University pursuing a Master’s in Counseling at the Bouvé College of Health Sciences. She graduated from Arizona State University with her Bachelor’s in Psychology in 2025. There, she was a part of two psychology research teams studying theory of mind and artificial intelligence. At Northeastern she is focused on studying existential-humanistic theories of counseling and is set to graduate in 2027.

Ammie G. Yu, Arizona State University, USA

Ammie graduated in 2025, earning concurrent Bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and Family & Human Development from Arizona State University. Ammie currently works at Mayo Clinic Arizona as an Associate Clinical Research Coordinator, managing minimal risk cancer studies with a focus in hematologic conditions. Ammie hopes to continue furthering her education and research experience to pursue a career as a clinical psychologist.

Kamryn M. Kadotani, Arizona State University, USA

Kamryn is a third-year PhD student in Social Psychology at Arizona State University. Kamryn researches how future-oriented thinking and social resources shape decision-making in an increasingly digital and globally interconnected world. Kamryn is the Lab Manager for the Culture and Decision Science Network Lab at ASU, working directly with graduate and undergraduate students to develop ongoing lines of research, mentor research assistants in statistical analyses, and discuss psychological phenomena.

Samantha L. McMichael, Arizona State University, USA

Samantha is a post-doctoral researcher in social psychology at Arizona State University. She earned her Ph.D. in Social Psychology and Master of Counseling from Arizona State University. Her research focuses on future time-perception and its relationship to behaviors and decisions.

Virginia S. Y. Kwan, Arizona State University, USA

Virginia is a professor of social psychology in the Department of Psychology at Arizona State University. Her research focuses on the psychology of boundaries between perception of self and perception of others using multiple methods, multiple cultures, and multiple species. Virginia’s recent research addresses the boundaries between perceived human and perceived nonhuman agent, and between cyberlife engagement and physical life engagement, and the impacts of these boundaries on how people attend to, understand, and interpret modern disasters, such as climate change and cyber-attacks. The ultimate goals of Virginia’s research are to develop new ways to better serve people, making technology more user-friendly and safe.

References

American Psychological Association (2023). Self-efficacy. In APA dictionary of psychology. Retrieved March 23, 2024, from https://dictionary.apa.org/self-efficacy

American Psychological Association. (2024). Stress in America 2024: A nation in political turmoil. https://www.apa.org/pubs/reports/stress-in-america/2024

Albright, J. N., & Hurd, N. M. (2023). Activism, social support, and Trump-related distress:

Exploring associations with mental health. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 16(1), 1-12. https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2021-43926-001.pdf?auth_token=fb4f1fe734a97b4885fbc14fca2befbede667067

Alexander, A. C., Waring, J. J. C., Noble, B., Bradley, D., Olurotimi, O., Fronheiser, J., Sifat, M., Ehlke, S. J., Boozary, L. K., McQuoid, J., & Kendzor, D. E. (2022). Perceptions of Mental Health and Exploring the Role of Social Activism Among African Americans Exposed to Media Coverage of Police Brutality and Protests. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, 10(3), 1403-1413. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35595915/

Bestvater, S., Gelles-Watnick, R., Odabas, M., Anderson, M., & Smith, A. (2023). Americans’ views of and experiences with activism on social media. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2023/06/29/americans-views-of-and-experiences-with-activism-on-social-media/

Blue, A. (2024, October 1). Young voters: Driven or disillusioned? The University of Arizona News. https://news.arizona.edu/news/young-voters-driven-or-disillusioned

Branscombe, N. R., Schmitt, M. T., & Harvey, R. D. (1999). Perceiving pervasive discrimination among African Americans: Implications for group identification and well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77(1), 135–149. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.77.1.135

Clayton, S., & Parnes, M. F. (2025). Anxiety and activism in response to climate change. Current opinion in psychology, 62, 101996. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.101996

Conner, J. O., Crawford, E., & Galioto, M. (2021). The mental health effects of student

activism: Persisting despite psychological costs. Journal of Adolescent Research, 38(1), 80-109. https://doi.org/10.1177/07435584211006789

Gottfried, J. (2024, January 31). Americans’ social media use. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2024/01/31/americans-social-media-use/

Foster, M. (2019). “Use it or lose it”: How online activism moderates the protective properties of gender identity for well-being. Computers in Human Behavior, 96, 163-173. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S074756321830579X

Hisam, A., Safoor, I., Khurshid, N., Aslam, A., Zaid, F., & Muzaffar, A. (2017). Is political activism on social media an initiator of psychological stress? Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences, 33(6), 1463–1467. https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.336.12863

Hope, E. C., Velez, G., Offidani-Bertrand, C., Keels, M., & Durkee, M. I. (2018). Political activism and mental health among Black and Latinx college students. Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology, 24(1), 26–39. https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000144

Irannejad Bisafar, F., Foucault Welles, B., D'Ignazio, C., & Parker, A. G. (2020). Supporting youth activists? Strategic use of social media: a qualitative investigation of design opportunities. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 4(CSCW2), 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1145/3415180

Karim, F., Oyewande, A. A., Abdalla, L. F., Ehsanullah, R. C., & Khan, S. (2020). Social media use and its connection to mental health: A systematic review. Cureus, 12(6). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7364393/

Kende, A., van Zomeren, M., Ujhelyi, A., & Lantos, N. A. (2016). The social affirmation use of social media as a motivator of collective action. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 46(8), 453–469. https://doi.org/10.1111/jasp.12375

Lee, Y., Tao, W., & Queenie Li, J.-Y. (2022). Motivations of Online and Offline Activism Against Racism and Xenophobia Among Asian-American Publics During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Telematics and Informatics, 67, 101751. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2021.101751

Lempinen, E. (2024, June 26). Young voters have growing power, but broken politics leaves them ‘fatalistic,’ study finds. UC Berkeley News. young-voters-have-growing-power-but-broken-politics-leave-them-fatalistic-studies-find

MacLeod, A. K., & Byrne, A. (1996). Anxiety, depression, and the anticipation of future positive and negative experiences. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 105(2), 286–289. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-843X.105.2.286

McClain, C., Anderson, M., & Gelles-Watnick, R. (2024, June 12). How Americans Navigate Politics on TikTok, X, Facebook and Instagram. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2024/06/12/how-americans-navigate-politics-on-tiktok-x-facebook-and-instagram/

Medina, A., & Suzuki, S. (2023, October 18). 41 million members of gen z will be eligible to vote in 2024. Circle. https://circle.tufts.edu/latest-research/41-million-members-gen-z-will-be-eligible-vote-2024

Medina, A., Siegel-Stechler, K., & Suzuki, S. (2025, January 15). Young people and the 2024 election: Struggling, disconnected, and dissatisfied. Circle. 2024-poll-barriers-issues-economy

Othman, M. B. A. A., Al-Dosary, M. S. M., & Ismail, M. A. A. (2023). An educational study of the effect of future anxiety on the academic progress of university students: Students of Prince Seram Bin Abdulaziz University. Conhecimento & Diversidade, 15(40), 194-209. https://doi.org/10.18316/rcd.v15i40.11312

Radloff, L. S. (1977). The CES-D scale: A self report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurements, 1(3), 385-401. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1979-10129-001

Schmitt, J. B. (2016). Media self-efficacy and internal political efficacy as processes underlying young adults’ political participation. Studies in Communication and Media, 5(2), 197-222. DOI: 10.5771/2192-4007-2016-2-197

Schwarzer, R., & Jerusalem, M. (1995). Generalized Self-Efficacy scale. In J. Weinman, S. Wright, & M. Johnston, Measures in health psychology: A user’s portfolio. Causal and control beliefs (pp. 35-37).Windsor, UK: NFER-NELSON. https://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/26768/1/General_Self-Efficacy_Scale%20(GSE).pdf

Solhaug, T. (2006). Knowledge and self-efficacy as predictors of political participation and civic attitudes: With relevance for educational practice. Policy Futures in Education, 4(3). https://doi.org/10.2304/pfie.2006.4.3.265

Swenson, A., & Sanders, L. (2024, August 8). About 3 in 4 adults say the 2024 election will determine the fate of U.S. democracy. PBS News. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/about-3-in-4-u-s-adults-say-the-2024-election-will-determine-the-fate-of-u-s-democracy

Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(6), 1063–1070. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.54.6.1063