Adolescent Critical Action and Wellbeing in Rural Sociopolitical Contexts During the 2024 Presidential Election in the United States of America

ABSTRACT Rural youths’ critical action (i.e., participation in social and political activities to create structural change) may be uniquely shaped by rural sociopolitical contexts, with cascading effects on wellbeing (i.e., physical, mental, and socioemotional health). We take a mixed‐methods approach to examine critical action and wellbeing among 23 rural adolescents from 10 primarily Northeast and Midwest USA states during the 2024 election season (M age = 15.95; 65.2% cis‐female‐identifying, 26.1% cis‐male‐identifying, 8.7% gender diverse; 56.6% LGBQ+; 91.3% White; 4.3% Latine; 4.3% biracial; median town population 1570). Using qualitative interviews followed by nightly surveys and salivary cortisol collected during election week, we found that: (1) rural sociopolitical community dynamics shaped experiences of exclusion but also opportunities for critical action, particularly via interpersonal dialogue; (2) critical action facilitated coping with election‐related stress but not symptoms of anxiety. We encourage increasing critical action opportunities for rural youth in ways that promote wellbeing.