Changes in support for free speech and hate speech restrictions: Cohort, aging, and period effects among ethnic minority and majority group members

Abstract How do attitudes toward free speech and hate speech restrictions change across the adult lifespan? The current research utilizes data from five annual waves of longitudinal data from 2019 to 2024 ( N > 50,000) to examine the extent to which cohort, period, and age effects contribute to changes in attitudes toward free speech and hate speech among ethnic majority and minority group members during a period of changing societal norms about freedom of expression. Through a series of cohort‐sequential latent growth models, we assess whether changes in tolerance follow a common aging pattern across the lifespan and/or depend on contextual characteristics (cohort and period effects). Results revealed that general support for free speech decreased across all birth cohorts of both ethnic majority and ethnic minority groups from 2019 to 2024. This downward shift in support for free speech during this period suggests that larger sociopolitical changes during the assessment period shaped public sentiments toward free speech. By contrast, there was little change in support for restricting hate speech during the assessment period, especially among ethnic minority group members, with data revealing largely normative aging processes involved in changes for support of hate speech restrictions.