Abstracts Communications and the Arts

Advancing Advocacy Communication Theory: A Theory Grounded in Undocumented College Students’ Motivations and Strategies for Challenging Oppression

by Monica Cornejo

Undocumented college students experience a myriad of stressors (e.g., fear of deportation, limited resources; transitioning to college; Enriquez et al., 2018; Hurst et al., 2013) because of systemic oppression, yet they often engage in various advocacy efforts to challenge those oppressive systems. Although different persuasion (e.g., Focus Theory of Normative Conduct, the Theory of Planned Behavior, the Anger Activism Model; Ajzen, 1991, 2005; Cialdini et al., 1990; Turner, 2007) and social movements theories (e.g., Mass Society Theory; The Theory of Relative Deprivation; Bernstein & Crosby, 1998; Gusfield, 1994) exist that describe why minoritized group members advocate on behalf of their ingroup, these theories primarily focus on traditional forms of advocacy rather than representing advocacy as multidimensional. Consequently, in Chapter 1, this dissertation introduces Advocacy Communication Theory (ACT), which argues that advocacy communication is a complex process comprised of advocacy strategies at the individual, interpersonal, community, organizational, and policy levels. ACT also identifies predictors of undocumented students’ advocacy communication by drawing from communication and psychological factors, and it discusses the potential health implications associated with engaging in different advocacy communication strategies. In Chapter 2, I test part of ACT using latent profile analysis and two waves of longitudinal survey data from 329 undocumented college students, primarily of Latinx origin. Chapter 3 sheds light on the dynamic nature of advocacy communication, examining the extent to which undocumented students remain in the same type of advocacy group after 30 days or transition to another type of advocacy group. I end this dissertation with Chapter 4, where I discuss the theoretical and practical contributions of ACT and the findings from Chapters 2 and 3.