Feeling the Impact: Negative Emotions and Youth Well-Being During Times of Political Volatility

Abstract

With the second inauguration of President Trump in 2025, the United States has been facing significant political volatility as a new administration transitions into office. The political environment is susceptible to structural stigma, particularly for gender-diverse youth who face emotional distress and vulnerability related to discriminatory policies supported by the administration. Existing literature demonstrates a strong relation between such stigma based experiences and negative mental health outcomes among gender-diverse youth. The present study examined how negative emotions linked to recent political events relate to well-being among cisgender and gender-diverse adolescents in an 8-week survey-based study. To examine this question, the present study analyzed qualitative responses to current events and quantitative mental health measures of cisgender and gender-diverse youth in the US between the ages 12 and 17.