Abstract
Does the political context influence how children think about who they are and will become? This study analyzed longitudinal data to explore children’s references to sociopolitical events, such as presidential elections, when they described their own social identities and future aspirations. Children (7-14 years old; N = 245) were individually interviewed on two separate occasions: Time 1 interviews coincided with Barack Obama’s seventh year of presidency (May, 2014); Time 2 interviews happened after Donald Trump launched his presidential campaign (May, 2016). Content analysis revealed that 20 participants spontaneously made political/presidential references; 10 participants made political/presidential references at Time 1 and 12 participants made references at Time 2. Two participants made such references in both of their interviews. At Time 1, political/presidential references covered a wide range of topics: social justice advancements (30%), governmental facts (20%), presidential responsibilities (20%), racial inequalities (10%), fears of the future (10%), and gender inequalities (10%). At Time 2, during Trump’s presidential campaign, all political/presidential references made by participants centralized under two themes: racial inequalities (50%) and fears of the future (50%). Moreover, there were 11 specific references to Donald Trump, suggesting the prevailing salience of this presidential campaign. Such findings are notable because children were discussing their views of their own racial and gender identities and their future aspirations. This study contributes to our understanding of the impact of politics on development and how children may engage macro-level issues as they make sense of their micro-level social identities and experiences.