Exposure to Trauma and Political Behavior

该奖项全部或部分根据2021年美国救援计划法案（公法117-2）资助。当人们暴露于多重创伤事件时，他们会经历精神痛苦。例如，通过媒体或亲身目睹911恐怖袭击或波士顿爆炸案等事件间接暴露的个人会受到心理影响，而目睹与警察的负面互动对政治态度和行为的影响尚未得到充分研究。PI提出，将此类事件纳入政治分析将有助于确定创伤与人口特征之间的相互作用是否会影响政治态度和行为。此外，PI研究了生活在城市地区与农村地区的程度，条件的方式，从不同的人口群体的公民对创伤的反应。 项目执行人利用调查和焦点小组从农村和城市地区难以接触到的群体收集数据。通过研究这些不同的群体和社区，研究提供了更好的理解创伤如何在不同群体的公民中表现出不同的影响政治行为。大部分关于心理健康和创伤事件暴露的研究未能区分不同人口群体的累积创伤影响。典型的研究通过在统计模型中加入虚拟变量来控制种族和民族。目前的文献未能探讨某些人口群体的独特倾向是否会加剧他们对累积创伤事件的情绪反应。在这项研究中，PI将与执法部门的负面互动概念化为种族创伤压力刺激（RTSS），并将RTSS纳入模型中以分析累积压力和政治行为。采用调查方法和焦点小组收集难以接触到的群体的数据，如少数民族人口中的农村人口。除了调查外，PI还进行了四项社区一级的案例研究，这些研究利用了对社区历史学家的访谈、对存在真相与和解倡议的社区的访谈、对该地区心理健康专业人员的访谈以及重点小组的访谈。通过这些不同的数据收集工作，PI研究如何将RTSS纳入政治分析将有助于确定创伤和人口特征之间的相互作用是否会影响政治态度和行为。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). People undergo mental distress when they are exposed to multiple traumatic events. For example, individuals indirectly exposed via the media or via personally witnessing events such as the September 11 attacks or the Boston Bombings are psychologically impacted.The impact of witnessing negative interactions with the police on political attitudes and behavior has not been studied adequately. The PI proposes that the inclusion of such events in political analyses will help to determine if the interaction between trauma and demographic characteristics affect political attitudes and behavior. Furthermore, the PI examines the degree to which living in an urban area versus a rural area conditions the manner in which citizens from different demographic groups respond to trauma. The PIs uses surveys and focus groups to collect data from hard-to-reach groups in rural and urban areas. By examining these various groups and communities, the research offer greater understanding of how trauma manifest differently in citizens from various groups to influence political behavior. The bulk of the research related to mental health and exposure to traumatic events fails todistinguish among various demographic groups concerning the effects of cumulative traumas. A typical study employs controls for race and ethnicity by including dummy variables in statistical models. The current literature fails to explore whether the unique predispositions of certain demographic groups exacerbate their emotional response to cumulative traumatic events. In this study, the PI conceptualizes negative interactions with law enforcement as racially traumatic stressful stimuli (RTSS) and includes RTSS in models to analyze cumulative stress and political behavior. Survey methods and focus groups are used to collect data from hard-to-reach groups such as rural people in minority demographics. In addition to the survey, the PI conducts four community-level case studies that draw on interviews with community historians, communities where truth and reconciliation initiatives were present, interviews with mental health professionals in the area, and focus groups. Through these various data gathering efforts, the PI examines how the inclusion of RTSS in political analyses will help to determine if the interaction between trauma and demographic characteristics affect political attitudes and behavior.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.