Political Engagement, Political Trust and Political Efficacy How Naturalization Affects Latinos

This project considers how naturalization affects democratic attributes among Latinos. Previous literature provides theoretical justifications to expect that naturalization influences the political engagement, political efficacy and political trust of Latinos but careful investigation of the evidence suggests that the relationship between naturalization and democratic attributes is not straightforward or all encompassing. To examine results, I employ an ordinal regression model using data from the LINES 2012 survey to test a battery of indicators associated with these attributes. Findings do not indicate a significant relationship between naturalization and the political engagement, political efficacy or political trust of Latinos, which raises interesting questions about the overall effectiveness of naturalization as an experience that creates more democratic citizens, and demonstrates a need for more research on this topic.