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Personality and Attitudinal Predictors of Support of Proposition 187—California's Anti‐Illegal Immigrant Initiative 1
Author(s) -
Quinton Wendy J.,
Cowan Gloria,
Watson Brett D.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1996.tb01796.x
Subject(s) - proposition , psychology , immigration , social psychology , authoritarianism , acculturation , prejudice (legal term) , personality , california proposition 13 , political science , politics , law , democracy , philosophy , epistemology
Right‐wing authoritarianism, stereotypes about illegal immigrants relative to legal immigrants (and nonimmigrants), and collective self‐esteem were investigated as predictors of attitude toward California's Proposition 187—the 1994 initiative making illegal immigrants ineligible for public services. Among both Latinos ( n = 92) and Caucasians ( n = 79), right‐wing authoritarianism and negative stereotypes about illegal immigrants predicted Proposition 187 support and reported vote. For Latinos, low collective self‐esteem and high levels of acculturation predicted support and vote in favor of Proposition 187. In contrast, high collective self‐esteem among Caucasians was related to Proposition 187 support and vote. The results suggest that 3 perspectives on prejudice—personality, cognitive, and cultural—contribute to the understanding of attitudinal and behavioral support of Proposition 187.