Colonial Mentality’s Relationship with Political Attitudes, Voting Behavior, and Ethnic Identity Among Puerto Ricans.

Colonialism has harmful psychological consequences on colonized people through the internalization of systemic oppression (i.e., colonial mentality, CM). This study expands upon existing work on CM by studying its relation to social and political attitudes within a colonized country. Because of the relation between CM and negative ingroup attitudes, we hypothesized that CM would be negatively correlated with perceptions of the government, political efficacy beliefs, voting behavior, and ethnic identity. We also hypothesized that individuals higher in CM would be less likely to desire Puerto Rican independence. This study surveyed Puerto Ricans living on the island using a questionnaire that included measures of government efficacy, internal and external political efficacy, attitudes about Puerto Rico’s political status, voting behavior, CM, and ethnic identity. Results showed that CM was negatively correlated with ethnic identity. Higher CM was associated with more positive perceptions of the government, but less political efficacy. Additionally, individuals with higher CM were both less likely to have voted in the 2020 election and to favor Puerto Rican independence. Though correlational, these results suggest that CM is related to Puerto Ricans’ attitudes and behaviors in ways that may be of interest to researchers seeking to understand the political environment on the island. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]