The NEAAPOR council unanimously selected Marco M. Avina’s paper, "Perceived Economic Contributions Increase Support for Immigration Reform" as the winner of this year’s student paper award. Avina’s paper focuses on a timely research question: can emphasizing undocumented immigrants’ economic contributions counter negative attitudes and promote meaningful policy reforms. With the backdrop of Congress once again debating immigration, and with many previous attempts ending unsuccessfully, understanding whether opinion change on this issue is possible and how best to achieve it, is especially important. Avina uses three experiments across three national samples of Americans to assess two strategies for promoting inclusion and shifting policy preferences. The paper is clearly written and engages with a growing body of research on the subject. Overall, it is an important contribution that will be of interest to all social scientists.
The NEAAPOR Council also wishes to recognize Alexandra Josephson’s paper, "The Impact of Low Birthweight, Adverse Childhood Experiences, and Family Resilience on Child and Adolescent Flourishing" as an honorable mention for the award. This well-written paper reports on the results from a nationally representative annual survey of children aged 0 – 17 to assess the impact of low birthweight and ACEs on child and adolescent flourishing and whether family resilience moderates the relationship.
