Critical reflection in the online context: How do immigrant‐origin youth make meaning of their sociopolitical experiences and identities?

Social media facilitates sociopolitical development; however, xenophobic sociopolitical climates engender acculturative stressors for immigrant-origin (IO) youth's online experiences. Through interviews with N = 90 IO youth (Mage = 16.41; 74.44% female-identifying; 33.33% Asian, 26.67% Latinx, 25.56% Black, 8.89% multi-racial, 3.33% white, 2.22% Middle Eastern), we qualitatively identified two meta-themes regarding youth's critical reflection catalyzed by online content: identity-related processes for their role in society relative to others' lived experiences; meaning-making of sociopolitical issues through online socialization experiences. Youth's reflective processes were closely linked with their emotions. Affirming sociopolitical messages fostered emotions like care and inspiration; exclusionary and anti-democratic messages sparked frustration and anger. Findings demonstrate how online experiences shape interconnected sociopolitical processes of and emotional responses to critical reflection and identity development for IO youth.