When asked about reactions to Donald Trump being president, a 16-year-old Black girl said, "I feel unsafe and not protected. The United States is supposed to be the land of the free but is really the land of racism."
Author
- Laura Wray-Lake
Professor of Social Welfare, University of California, Los Angeles
In contrast, a 16-year-old white girl said, "I think it's OK … I do feel bad for minorities … I'm white however and come from a somewhat similar background so I will be alright."
These two teenagers responded very differently to the racial climate created by Trump - during his first presidency . Research on adolescents during Trump's first term takes on new relevance now that he is back in office.
As a scholar of adolescent development, I have studied U.S. teenagers for over two decades. When Trump took office in 2016, I was in the midst of leading a five-year study to understand how young people become civically engaged. My colleagues and I were tracking adolescents' beliefs and behaviors over time, which gave us a unique opportunity to document changes after Trump was elected.
Focusing on 1,400 ninth through 12th graders, I hypothesized that adolescents would become more divided during Trump's presidency, given the political divisions evident among adults in 2016 . And, like other social scientists, my team and I did identify diverging worldviews about racism and inequalities among teenagers and increased discrimination.
Decades of research shows that adolescents are influenced in lasting ways by societal events and political shifts, such as the Great Depression , the Civil Rights Movement , the 9/11 terrorist attacks and changing presidential administrations . Likewise, the short-term impacts of Trump's presidency identified by research may portend long-lasting effects for this generation of young people.
Diverging worldviews
In our study , young Trump supporters were more likely to be white and male and to have politically conservative parents, and less likely to be immigrants. Teenagers in our study who disapproved of Trump were more likely to be female and Latino, Black or Asian, to have politically liberal parents, and to have parents or grandparents who were immigrants. These groups were not just different demographically; they diverged in their worldviews about race and inequality over time.
Across Trump's first year in office, young Trump supporters decreased their race consciousness - that is, their support for racial equity and inclusion declined. We measured race consciousness by whether high schoolers agreed with statements like "I show support for equal rights for people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds" and "I express concern about discrimination faced by racial and ethnic groups."
Young Trump supporters also grew less aware of inequalities in society during this time frame, becoming less likely to endorse statements like "In America, certain groups have fewer chances to get ahead."
Conversely, young Trump detractors increased their race consciousness and awareness of societal inequalities during this time. Another study that interviewed youth of color during Trump's first presidency similarly found that adolescents critical of Trump developed deeper capacities to understand societal inequalities in response to Trump's policies.
Did these divergent beliefs translate into different behaviors?
Interestingly, only young Trump supporters in our study became more likely to vote after Trump's first election. This heightened interest in voting among young Trump supporters aligns with 2024's election results . Although people ages 18-29 were more likely to support Kamala Harris than Donald Trump, the majority of white youth (54%) and young men (56%) who voted turned out to support Trump. The adolescents we surveyed in 2016 and 2017 are among this cohort of young voters in 2024.
Increased discrimination
The divergent beliefs of Trump supporters and detractors may have implications for other behaviors in addition to voting.
After Trump's first election, 28% of K-12 teachers reported witnessing increases in students' derogatory remarks toward minority groups, especially in predominantly white schools. Students were emboldened to make bigoted statements about immigrants, Muslims and other groups. Researchers documented incidents of anti-Black racism and anti-transgender discrimination in schools.
Our study found that Latino youth experienced more discrimination after Trump was elected. Latino adolescents also expressed fears and anxieties due to Trump's hostile immigration policies and rhetoric, and they attributed Trump's stance to racism. Four psychologists who systematically reviewed the available research concluded that the first Trump presidency harmed Latino adolescents' mental health .
These studies did not definitively attribute increased discrimination to actions of young Trump supporters. But young Trump supporters did become less concerned about discrimination and racial equity. And adult Trump supporters did endorse more racist and anti-immigrant attitudes and the use of political violence compared with other adults.
What about now?
Trump's executive orders in 2025 have expanded the detention and deportation of immigrants, declared that gender is binary , and that diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives are illegal.
Based on how people responded in the early days of Trump's first term, these orders may directly harm adolescents and embolden discrimination again. For example, immediately after the 2024 election, crisis calls from LGBTQ+ youth increased by 200%, and harassing texts were sent to Black, Latino and LGBTQ+ adolescents across 20 states.
The executive order to eliminate teaching on racial and gender equity from schools, if upheld, would limit adolescents' opportunities to learn about racism, sexism and inequalities faced by different groups.
Adolescents' awareness of and concerns about inequalities diverged during Trump's first presidency based on their political views. Given the policy focus of Trump's second term, I anticipate similar or greater divisions in young people's racial attitudes and actions than my research revealed over the course of his first term.
Laura Wray-Lake received funding for research reported herein from the National Science Foundation and John Templeton Foundation. She is a registered Democrat.
