Impacts of Serving a Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on Individuals’ Attitudes toward Immigrants

This study examines how serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) affects individuals’ attitudes toward immigrants. Several hypotheses were developed based on intergroup contact theory. An online survey was filled out by 1,290 undergraduate students taking classes at a state university in Utah. Multivariate analyses yielded several findings. First, those who have served an LDS mission hold a more positive attitude toward immigrants than other individuals. Second, missionaries serving in some mission fields hold a more positive attitude toward immigrants than their counterparts, including those who needed to learn and speak a new language during their mission, those who served the mission in Latin America, those who received help from people of other countries during their mission, and those serving in places with either a lower or similar living standard. Surprisingly, being a victim of violence from people of other countries during the mission did not exert a significant impact on respondents’ attitudes toward immigrants.