Abstract
Police contact is a common and consequential experience disproportionately endured by youth of color living in heavily surveilled neighborhoods. Disclosing police contact to others (including parents, siblings, or friends) may buffer against the harmful mental health repercussions of police contact, but little is known about the relationship between disclosure of police contact and mental health. We use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a cohort of urban children born around the turn of the 21st century and followed through age 15, to examine the relationship between disclosure of police contact and mental health among youth. Results suggest three conclusions. First, youth who experience police contact (regardless of whether they disclose this contact) report more depressive symptoms and anxiety than youth who do not experience police contact. Second, among youth who experience police contact, disclosure is associated with significantly less anxiety (but is not significantly associated with depressive symptoms). Third, this protective nature of disclosure is concentrated among Black youth and boys. Taken together, these findings suggest that disclosing police contact, particularly for groups most likely to experience it, may ameliorate some of the harmful mental health repercussions of this contact for youth.
Keywords: adolescent health, criminal justice contact, mental health, policing
INTRODUCTION
Police contact has become an increasingly common experience in the past three decades [1], stemming from proactive policing strategies that involve pre-emptive stops, searches, and arrests as an approach to interrupt criminal activity [2,3]. More than 1 million adolescents ages 16–17 (14% of all those ages 16–17) experience police contact annually and, among urban-born youth, nearly one fifth (19%) report police contact by age 15 [1,4]. Youth police contact, similar to criminal justice contact more broadly, is unequally experienced across the population. It is concentrated among youth of color, boys, and those living in racially segregated, economically disadvantaged, and heavily surveilled neighborhoods [1,5,6].
Although aggressive police contact has long been a concern, particularly in Black communities [7,8], recent highly publicized incidents of police violence have brought additional attention to policing as a social determinant of health and health disparities [9–14]. The stress process perspective, which highlights both the concentration of stressors among vulnerable groups and the deleterious consequences of stressors for health, suggests that police contact can erode mental health both as a discrete life event and as a chronic strain [15,16]. In addition to any physical and psychological stress of the event itself, a police encounter may operate as a manifestation of structural or interpersonal racism, which carries its own health consequences [17–22]. Indeed, research increasingly details that police contact has substantial health repercussions. Police contact is associated with depressive symptoms [12,23,24], anxiety [10,25], post-traumatic stress [10,25], shorter telomere length [26], emotional distress [27], psychological stress [28], and psychophysiological functioning [29]. These damaging relationships with mental health may be especially pronounced among youth, many of whom are experiencing interactions with the criminal justice system for the first time [24,25,27].
Understanding the association between youth disclosure of police contact and mental health is particularly important, as disclosure may be one avenue to buffer against these deleterious mental health consequences. Disclosing traumatic events can have wide-ranging health benefits [30]. In addition, disclosure can prompt interlocutors to provide social support, a mechanism for healing highlighted in the stress process perspective [15,16,31]. Youth disclosure across a wide range of difficult circumstances is associated with better health [32,33]. Accordingly, the disclosure of police stops—to parents, siblings, or friends, for example—may protect against mental health impairments commonly associated with police contact. However, sometimes unburdening one’s self does not go well. Disclosures can be met with stigma or shame [34] and, accordingly, disclosure may impair mental health or have no association with mental health [35].
Additionally, is reasonable to expect the repercussions of disclosure will differ across population race or sex subgroups. Disclosure patterns and interlocutors’ responses to disclosure depend on structural features such as the concentration of stigmatizing events or characteristics. Police engage with young men of color at far greater rates than any other population [1] and this, in turn, may be associated with disclosure patterns. For instance, Black and Latino young men exposed to community violence often conceal their experiences and reactions due to—and perpetuating—feelings of isolation [36]. As such, we anticipate the relationship between youth disclosure of police contact and mental health will differ by these major axes of stratification in the United States and in the experience of police contact.
We examine the relationship between youth disclosure of police contact and mental health, measured by depressive symptoms and anxiety, building upon recent research that found that stigma and post-traumatic stress stemming from police contact is negatively associated with disclosure [37]. We use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a cohort of urban children born around the turn of the 21st century and followed through age 15, to examine the relationship between police contact and mental health net of characteristics associated with selection into police contact. Then, among youth experiencing police contact, we examine the relationship between disclosure and mental health, first for the full sample of those experiencing police contact and then across race and sex subgroups of those experiencing police contact. Understanding the relationship between disclosure of police contact and mental health in adolescence may be especially beneficial, given the importance of both positive and negative experiences in structuring long-term effects during this developmental period [38].
METHOD
Data
We use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study [39], a cohort of children born in urban areas around the turn of the 21st century and followed through adolescence, to estimate the relationship between disclosure of police contact and mental health. Nearly 5,000 mothers (and their partners) were recruited into the survey when their children were born, between 1998 and 2000, and parents were re-interviewed five additional times (when their children were about 1, 3, 5, 9, and 15 years old). Youth themselves were surveyed when they were 9 and 15 years old (with the most recent survey occurring between 2014 and 2017). The measures of police contact and mental health are ascertained at the 15-year survey, as described below, but we use control variables from all survey waves. These data provide an excellent opportunity to understand the repercussions of police contact for youth, as these youth experienced adolescence during the peak of proactive policing [2] and because the data include information about disclosure of police contact and multiple indicators of mental health [40].
The analytic sample comprises 3,437 of the original 4,898 families, as we exclude the 1,454 observations in which the youth did not participate in the 15-year survey and the additional 7 observations missing data on the two dependent variables. The full and analytic samples differ on only some observed baseline characteristics, most of which we adjust for in the multivariable models. Mothers in the analytic sample, compared to mothers in the full sample, are more likely to be non-Hispanic Black (50.1% compared to 47.6%), less likely to be Hispanic (24.6% compared to 27.3%), and less likely to be born outside the United States (13.3% compared to 17.0%). Mothers in the analytic sample are also less likely to have less than a high school diploma (31.8% compared to 34.7%) at baseline. There are no differences between the full and analytic samples in terms of parents’ relationship status, income, depression, and incarceration history.
Measures
Mental Health.
We examine two dependent variables, both measured at the 15-year survey. First, our indicator of depressive symptoms is measured by averaging youth’s responses to the following five statements (1 = strongly disagree to 4 = strongly agree): (1) I feel I cannot shake off the blues, even with help from my family and friends; (2) I feel sad; (3) I feel happy (reverse coded); (4) I feel life is not worth living; and (5) I feel depressed. These items are drawn from a modified version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) (α = .76) [41]. Second, anxiety is measured by averaging youth’s responses to the following six statements (1 = strongly disagree to 4 = strongly agree): (1) I have spells of terror or panic; (2) I feel tense or keyed up; (3) I get suddenly scared for no reason; (4) I feel nervous or shaky inside; (5) I feel fearful; and (6) I feel so restless I can’t sit still. These items come from a modified version of the Brief Symptom Inventory 18 (BSI 18) anxiety subscale (α = .76) [42]. For both measures of depressive symptoms and anxiety, youth are asked to reflect on the past four weeks. The mean for depressive symptoms is 1.597 and the mean for anxiety is 1.809. In supplemental analyses, we measured depressive symptoms and anxiety by summing, instead of averaging, responses to the statements; results are consistent with those presented.
Youth Police Contact.
The analyses consider two explanatory variables, both measured at the 15-year survey. First, youth are asked to report if they had ever been stopped by the police on the street, at school, in a car, or some other place. A binary variable indicates the youth responded affirmatively. Second, youth reporting police contact were asked the following: “Did you tell anyone about this incident?” A binary variable indicates the youth disclosed the police stop. About 26.6% of youth reported police contact and, of those, 70.4% reported disclosing the police contact (with 18.7% of the analytic sample reporting police contact with disclosure). Youth who disclosed police contact reported a greater number of stops than those who did not disclose (reporting an average of 2.831 stops, compared to 2.705 stops; descriptives not shown).
Control Variables.
The multivariable analyses adjust for characteristics associated with disclosure of police contact and mental health among youth. We adjust for youth demographic characteristics including race/ethnicity (non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic, non-Hispanic other race, and non-Hispanic multiracial, reported by the youth at the 15-year survey), sex (reported by mothers at baseline), and age at the 15-year survey. We adjust for cognitive ability, measured by the Woodcock-Johnson Reading Comprehension test at the 9-year survey [43], and delinquency, a sum of 17 items ascertained by youth at the 9-year survey including “had a fist fight with another person” and “secretly taken a sip of wine, beer, or liquor.” We also adjust for youth reports of their relationships with their parents at the 9-year survey including closeness to their mother (1 = not very close to 4 = extremely close), closeness to their father (1 = not very close to 4 = extremely close), communication with their mother (measured by responses to a question about how well the youth shares ideas or talks about things that really matter with their mother, 1 = not very well to 4 = extremely well), and communication with their father (1 = not very well to 4 = extremely well). Given that youth mental health may play a role in whether youth choose to disclosure their police contact, we adjust for mental health prior to police contact, measured by mother’s reports of internalizing behaviors from the Child Behavior Checklist) at the 9-year survey (α = .79) [44].
We also adjust for parent demographic characteristics, including mother’s education (less than high school, high school diploma or GED, and more than high school), mother’s income-to-poverty ratio, and mother’s and father’s relationship status (married, cohabiting, non-residential romantic, and separated), all measured at the 9-year survey. We also adjust for mother’s and father’s mental health (1 = parent ever depressed, measured by responses to the Composite International Diagnostic Instrument-Short Form [45] at the 1-, 3-, 5-, and 9-year surveys), and mother’s and father’s incarceration history (1 = parent ever incarcerated).
Analytic Strategy
The analytic strategy is straightforward, occurring in four stages. Note that we cannot directly examine the extent to which disclosure of police contact buffers against the harmful mental health repercussions of police contact, as disclosure is only necessarily assessed when youth report exposure to police contact. Instead, the analyses focus on first estimating the relationship between police contact and mental health (to provide context for the subsequent analyses about disclosure) and then estimating the relationship between disclosure and mental health conditional on exposure to police contact.
In the first analytic stage, we examine descriptive statistics, first comparing youth who do and do not experience police contact and then, among youth experiencing police contact, comparing youth who do and do not disclose this contact. We examine statistically significant differences between groups, using chi-square tests or t-tests depending on the distribution of the outcome variable.
In the second analytic stage, we use ordinary least squares (OLS) regression to estimate the relationship between youth police contact (and disclosure of youth police contact) and mental health, measured by depressive symptoms and anxiety. We first examine any police contact among the full analytic sample (N = 3,437). We next examine disclosure of police contact among the sample of youth experiencing police contact (N = 915). Both sets of analyses present both an unadjusted model and an adjusted model that includes all control variables. Additionally, both sets of analyses pay careful attention to time ordering, with the dependent variable measured at the 15-year survey (with youth asked to report on their mental health in the past four weeks), the police contact (or disclosure of police contact) occurring primarily between the 9- and 15-year surveys, and the control variables measured prior to both police contact (or disclosure of police contact) and mental health. A small number of youth report that their first police contact occurred prior to age 9. The results are robust to excluding these youth from the analytic sample. These and subsequent analyses are unweighted.
In the third analytic stage, we use OLS regression to examine variation by race in the relationship between police contact mental health and in the relationship between disclosure of police contact and mental health, adjusting for all control variables. We estimate separate models for Black and non-Black youth. We estimate combine all non-Black youth given the relatively small number of non-Hispanic White (N = 128) and Hispanic (N = 175) youth who report police contact.
In the fourth analytic stage, we use OLS regression to examine variation by sex in these associations, estimating separate models for boys and girls and again adjusting for all control variables.
Relatively few covariates are missing data. The covariates are missing, on average, 6.7% of observations, ranging from <1% for youth’s age and mother’s educational attainment to 12.9% for youth delinquency. Fewer than 1% of observations are missing data on the independent variables, police contact and disclosure of police contact. We preserve these observations with multiple imputation, imputing 20 data sets and pooling results across them. We include all variables from the analyses in the imputation equation, including the dependent variables, and we drop observations missing dependent variables after imputation [46–49].
RESULTS
Sample Description
Table 1 presents descriptive statistics of the full sample. Most youth identify as race/ethnic minorities, with nearly half (49.1%) of the sample identifying as non-Hispanic Black and one-quarter (25.2%) identifying as Hispanic. Youth are, on average, 15.6 years old at the 15-year survey. Youth report being fairly close to their parents, especially their mothers, with youth reporting an average of 3.584 on the closeness to mother scale (range = 1 to 4) and 3.080 on the communication with mother scale (range = 1 to 4). Most youth (59.1%) have mothers with education beyond high school. Most youth (59.0%) have parents who are separated from one another at the 9-year survey. Mental health problems among youth’s parents are not uncommon, with nearly two-fifths of mothers (38.9%) and one-third fathers (28.7%) experiencing depression between the 1- and 9-year surveys. About half (49.1%) of children’s fathers had been incarcerated by the 9-year survey (including prior to baseline).
Table 1.
Descriptive Statistics of Variables Included in Analyses for Full Sample, by Youth Police Contact, and by Youth Disclosure of Police Contact
| Youth police contact | Youth disclosure of police contact | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|||||
| Full sample | Yes | No | Yes | No | ||
|
|
|
|
||||
| M or | % (S.D.) | M or % | M or % | M or % | M or % | |
|
| ||||||
| Key Variables | ||||||
| Depressive symptoms (y 15) | 1.597 | (0.599) | 1.693 | 1.561 *** | 1.684 | 1.714 |
| Anxiety (y 15) | 1.809 | (0.652) | 1.886 | 1.780 *** | 1.860 | 1.949 * |
| Youth Characteristics | ||||||
| Race/ethnicity (y 15) | ||||||
| White, non-Hispanic | 17.9% | 14.6% | 19.1% ** | 15.8% | 11.9% | |
| Black, non-Hispanic | 49.1% | 56.8% | 46.3% *** | 55.9% | 58.9% | |
| Hispanic | 25.2% | 20.6% | 26.9% *** | 20.5% | 20.9% | |
| Other race, non-Hispanic | 2.5% | 0.2% | 2.9%* | 1.4% | 1.8% | |
| Multiracial, non-Hispanic | 5.3% | 6.4% | 4.8% ^ | 6.4% | 6.5% | |
| Boy (b) | 51.5% | 70.0% | 44.8% *** | 68.3% | 74.2% ^ | |
| Age (y 15) | 15.595 | (0.768) | 15.672 | 15.565 *** | 15.697 | 15.613 |
| Reading comprehension (y9) | 93.010 | (13.805) | 92.367 | 93.252 ^ | 93.030 | 90.786 ** |
| Delinquency (y9) | 1.222 | (1.749) | 1.758 | 1.026 *** | 1.695 | 1.910 * |
| Internalizing behaviors (y9) | 0.159 | (0.178) | 0.166 | 0.156 | 0.161 | 0.177 ^ |
| Closeness to mother (y 9) | 3.584 | (0.812) | 3.522 | 3.607 * | 3.529 | 3.504 |
| Communication with mother (y 9) | 3.080 | (0.955) | 3.025 | 3.100 * | 3.021 | 3.035 |
| Closeness to father (y 9) | 2.837 | (1.296) | 2.736 | 2.876 ** | 2.766 | 2.663 |
| Communication with father (y 9) | 2.477 | (1.212) | 2.405 | 2.504 * | 2.410 | 2.392 |
| Parent Characteristics | ||||||
| Mother education (y9) | ||||||
| Less than high school diploma | 22.0% | 22.6% | 21.7% | 22.6% | 22.5% | |
| High school diploma or GED | 18.9% | 20.4% | 18.4% | 20.6% | 20.1% | |
| More than high school | 59.1% | 57.0% | 59.9% ^ | 56.8% | 57.4% | |
| Mother income-to-poverty ratio (y9) | 2.018 | (2.312) | 1.697 | 2.135 *** | 1.762 | 1.544 ^ |
| Parent relationship status (y9) | ||||||
| Married | 29.8% | 23.8% | 32.0% *** | 24.9% | 21.1% | |
| Cohabiting | 9.1% | 9.5% | 8.9% | 10.4% | 7.4% | |
| Non-residential romantic | 2.1% | 2.7% | 2.0% | 3.2% | 1.5% | |
| Separated | 59.0% | 64.1% | 57.1% *** | 61.6% | 70.0% * | |
| Mother ever depressed (y1, y3, y5, y9) | 38.9% | 41.0% | 38.2% | 40.7% | 41.5% | |
| Father ever depressed (y1, y3, y5, y9) | 28.7% | 31.6% | 27.7% * | 31.2% | 32.6% | |
| Mother ever incarcerated (y1, y3, y5, y9) | 5.1% | 5.5% | 5.0% | 5.2% | 6.2% | |
| Father ever incarcerated (y1, y3, y5, y9) | 49.1% | 57.5% | 46.0% *** | 57.4% | 57.8% | |
| N | 3,437 | 915 | 2,522 | 644 | 271 | |
Notes: b = measured at baseline, y1 = measured at 1-year survey, y3 = measured at 3-year survey, y5 = measured at 5-year survey, y9 = measured at 9-year survey, y15 = measured at 15-year survey. Asterisks indicate statistically significant differences between youth reporting police contact and youth reporting no police contact and statistically significant differences between youth disclosing police contact and youth not disclosing police contact.
p < .10,
p < .05,
p < .01,
p < .001.
Table 1 presents descriptive statistics by youth who do and do not experience police contact. There are demographic and socioeconomic differences between youth who do and do not experience police contact, consistent with prior research [24]. Youth with police contact, compared to other youth, are more likely to be non-Hispanic Black (56.8% compared to 46.3%, p < .001). They are more likely to be boys (70.0% compared to 44.8%, p < .001), have lower income-to-poverty ratios (1.697 compared to 2.135, p < .001), and report higher levels of delinquency (1.758 compared to 1.026, p < .001).
Table 1 also presents descriptive statistics for youth who do and do not disclose police contact. The magnitude and statistical significance of these differences are less striking than the differences between youth who do and do not report police contact. Youth who disclose police contact are less likely to be boys (68.3% compared to 74.2%, p < .10) and less likely to have separated parents (61.6% compared to 70.0%, p < .05). Youth who disclose have higher reading comprehension (93.030 compared to 90.786, p < .01) and lower internalizing behaviors (0.161 compared to 0.177, p < .10) than those who do not disclose.
Police Contact and Mental Health
Table 2 presents results from OLS regression models estimating mental health. We only present the coefficients and confidence intervals for police contact, but full models can be found in Appendix Table 1. The first panel of Table 2 presents estimates of the relationship between youth police contact and mental health. Model 1, which estimates the unadjusted association, shows that youth police contact is associated with greater depressive symptoms (b = 0.132, CI = 0.087 – 0.177) and anxiety (b = 0.106, CI = 0.056 – 0.155). These point estimates remain similar after adjusting for control variables. Model 2 shows that youth police contact is associated with a 0.149-point increase in depressive symptoms (CI = 0.103 – 0.195) and a 0.125-point increase in anxiety (CI = 0.075 – 0.176). These coefficients translate to one-fourth and one-fifth of a standard deviation in the dependent variables, respectively.
Table 2.
Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) Regression Models Estimating the Relationship between Police Contact and Youth Mental Health
| Depressive symptoms |
Anxiety |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model 1 unadjusted | Model 2 adjusted | Model 1 unadjusted | Model 2 adjusted | |
|
|
|
|||
| b | b | b | b | |
| [C.I.] | [C.I.] | [C.I.] | [C.I.] | |
|
| ||||
| Panel A. Full Sample | ||||
| Youth police contact | 0132 *** | 0149 *** | 0.106 *** | 0.125 *** |
| [0.087 – 0.177] | [0.103 – 0.195] | [0.056 – 0.155] | [0.075 – 0.176] | |
| Constant | 1.562 | 2.381 | 1.781 | 3.275 |
| Adjusted R-squared | 0.009 | 0.067 | 0.005 | 0.055 |
| N | 3,437 | 3,437 | 3,437 | 3,437 |
| Panel B. Sample Restricted to Youth with Police Contact | ||||
| Youth disclosed police contact | −0.030 | −0.033 | −0.091 ^ | −0.090 ^ |
| [−0.120 – 0.060] | [−0.121 – 0.056] | [−0.184 – 0.002] | [−0.181 – 0.002] | |
| Constant | 1.714 | 2.573 | 1.948 | 3.693 |
| Adjusted R-squared | 0.001 | 0.074 | 0.003 | 0.058 |
| N | 915 | 915 | 915 | 915 |
| Summary outcome variable, full sample | ||||
| 0.664*** | 0.755*** | 0.638*** | 0.762*** | |
| [0.438 – 0.890] | [0.524 – 0.985] | [0.342 – 0.933] | [0.459 – 1.065] | |
| Summary outcome variable, restricted sample | ||||
| −0.123 | −0.133 | −0.529^ | −0.525^ | |
| [−0.576 – 0.330] | [−0.575 – 0.309] | [−1.089 – 0.031] | [−1.078 – 0.027] | |
| Adjusted R-squared, full sample | ||||
| 1 | 0.009 | 0.067 | 0.005 | 0.058 |
| 2 | 0.009 | 0.065 | 0.005 | 0.054 |
| 3 | 0.009 | 0.068 | 0.005 | 0.058 |
| 4 | 0.009 | 0.067 | 0.005 | 0.057 |
| 5 | 0.009 | 0.070 | 0.005 | 0.055 |
| 6 | 0.009 | 0.070 | 0.005 | 0.058 |
| 7 | 0.009 | 0.064 | 0.005 | 0.052 |
| 8 | 0.009 | 0.065 | 0.005 | 0.055 |
| 9 | 0.009 | 0.067 | 0.005 | 0.056 |
| 10 | 0.009 | 0.068 | 0.005 | 0.056 |
| 11 | 0.009 | 0.067 | 0.005 | 0.055 |
| 12 | 0.010 | 0.070 | 0.005 | 0.054 |
| 13 | 0.009 | 0.065 | 0.005 | 0.053 |
| 14 | 0.009 | 0.065 | 0.005 | 0.053 |
| 15 | 0.009 | 0.064 | 0.005 | 0.053 |
| 16 | 0.009 | 0.069 | 0.005 | 0.056 |
| 17 | 0.010 | 0.069 | 0.005 | 0.055 |
| 18 | 0.010 | 0.070 | 0.005 | 0.057 |
| 19 | 0.009 | 0.067 | 0.005 | 0.054 |
| 20 | 0.009 | 0.068 | 0.005 | 0.057 |
| 0.009 | 0.067 | 0.005 | 0.055 | |
| Adjusted R-squared, restricted sample | ||||
| 1 | 0.001 | 0.080 | 0.003 | 0.058 |
| 2 | 0.001 | 0.076 | 0.003 | 0.062 |
| 3 | 0.001 | 0.076 | 0.003 | 0.058 |
| 4 | 0.001 | 0.069 | 0.003 | 0.061 |
| 5 | 0.001 | 0.076 | 0.003 | 0.057 |
| 6 | 0.001 | 0.071 | 0.003 | 0.056 |
| 7 | 0.001 | 0.070 | 0.003 | 0.056 |
| 8 | 0.001 | 0.069 | 0.003 | 0.063 |
| 9 | 0.001 | 0.078 | 0.003 | 0.062 |
| 10 | 0.001 | 0.073 | 0.003 | 0.061 |
| 11 | 0.001 | 0.075 | 0.003 | 0.054 |
| 12 | 0.001 | 0.081 | 0.003 | 0.058 |
| 13 | 0.001 | 0.074 | 0.003 | 0.058 |
| 14 | 0.001 | 0.069 | 0.003 | 0.056 |
| 15 | 0.001 | 0.072 | 0.003 | 0.052 |
| 16 | 0.001 | 0.068 | 0.003 | 0.050 |
| 17 | 0.001 | 0.081 | 0.003 | 0.063 |
| 18 | 0.001 | 0.077 | 0.003 | 0.065 |
| 19 | 0.001 | 0.073 | 0.003 | 0.054 |
| 20 | 0.001 | 0.076 | 0.003 | 0.059 |
| 0.001 | 0.074 | 0.003 | 0.058 | |
Appendix Table 1.
Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) Regression Models Estimating the Relationship between Police Contact and Youth Mental Health, Full Sample
| Depressive symptoms |
Anxiety |
|
|---|---|---|
| b | b | |
| [C.I.] | [C.I.] | |
|
| ||
| Youth police contact | 0 149 *** | 0.125 *** |
| [0.103 – 0.195] | [−0.075 – 0.176] | |
| Youth Characteristics | ||
| Race/ethnicity (reference = White, non-Hispanic) | ||
| Black, non-Hispanic | −0.051 | −0.110 ** |
| [−0.113 -- 0.011] | [−0.177 - −0.043] | |
| Hispanic | −0.003 | −0.020 |
| [−0.068 – 0.062] | [−0.092 – 0.052] | |
| Other race, non-Hispanic | 0.047 | −0.009 |
| [−0.086 – 0.179] | [−0.245 – 0.046] | |
| Multiracial, non-Hispanic | 0.036 | −0.013 |
| [−0.065 – 0.137] | [−0.124 – 0.097] | |
| Boy | −0.185 *** | −0.151 *** |
| [−0.226 - −0.144] | [−0.196 - −0.105] | |
| Age | −0.008 | −0.033 * |
| [−0.033 – 0.018] | [−0.062 - −0.005] | |
| Reading comprehension | −0.004 *** | −0.006 *** |
| [−0.005 - −0.002] | [−0.008 - −0.004] | |
| Delinquency | 0.019 *** | 0.015 * |
| [0.006 – 0.032] | [0.001 – 0.029] | |
| Internalizing behaviors | 0.197 *** | 0.248 *** |
| [0.074 – 0.321] | [0.120 – 0.376] | |
| Closeness to mother | −0.053 *** | −0.035 * |
| [−0.081 - −0.025] | [−0.065 - −0.004] | |
| Communication with mother | −0.020 | −0.022 |
| [−0.045 – 0.004] | [−0.049 – 0.005] | |
| Closeness to father | −0.021 ^ | −0.030 * |
| [−0.046 – 0.004] | [−0.058 - −0.002] | |
| Communication with father | −0.001 | 0.008 |
| [−0.027 – 0.025] | [−0.022 - −0.038] | |
| Parent Characteristics | ||
| Mother education (reference = less than high school diploma) | ||
| High school diploma or GED | −0.032 | −0.056 |
| [−0.094 – 0.030] | [−0.124 – 0.012] | |
| More than high school | −0.043 | −0.007 |
| [−0.096 – 0.001] | [−0.065 – 0.040] | |
| Mother income-to-poverty ratio | −0.005 | −0.005 |
| [−0.015 – 0.006] | [−0.017 – 0.006] | |
| Parent relationship status (reference = married) | ||
| Cohabiting | 0.033 | 0.039 |
| [−0.046 – 0.112] | [−0.045 – 0.124] | |
| Non-residential romantic | −0.058 | −0.033 |
| [−0.201 – 0.086] | [−0.190 – 0.124] | |
| Separated | −0.002 | −0.020 |
| [−0.060 – 0.056] | [−0.081 – 0.042] | |
| Mother ever depressed | 0.084 *** | 0.054 * |
| [0.043 - 0.126] | [0.009 - 0.100] | |
| Father ever depressed | 0.018 | 0.022 |
| [−0.029 - 0.064] | [−0.027 - 0.072] | |
| Mother ever incarcerated | −0.090 ^ | −0.042 |
| [−0.182 - 0.002] | [−0.144 - 0.060] | |
| Father ever incarcerated | 0.019 | 0.017 |
| [−0.025 - 0.064] | [−0.032 - 0.066] | |
| Constant | 2.381 | 3.203 |
| Adjusted R-squared | 0.067 | 0.055 |
| N | 3,437 | 3,437 |
Notes:
p < .10,
p < .05,
p < .01,
p < .001.
Disclosure of Police Contact and Mental Health
The second panel of Table 2 presents of the relationship between youth disclosure of police contact and mental health, with the sample necessarily restricted to youth who report police contact (and with full models presented in Appendix Table 2). Model 1, the unadjusted association, shows that disclosure of police contact is not associated with depressive symptoms (b = −0.030, CI = −0.120 – 0.060) but is negatively associated with anxiety (b = −0.091, CI = −0.184 – 0.002). These associations remain similar after adjusting for control variables. Model 2 shows that disclosure of youth police contact is associated with a 0.090-point decrease in anxiety (CI = −0.181 – 0.002). This coefficient translates to one-seven of a standard deviation in the dependent variable.
Appendix Table 2.
Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) Regression Models Estimating the Relationship between Police Contact and Youth Mental Health, Sample Restricted to Youth with Police Contact
| Depressive symptoms |
Anxiety |
|
|---|---|---|
| b | b | |
| [C.I.] | [C.I.] | |
|
| ||
| Youth police contact | −0.033 | −0.090 ^ |
| [−0.122 – 0.056] | [−0.181 – 0.002] | |
| Youth Characteristics | ||
| Race/ethnicity (reference = White, non-Hispanic) | ||
| Black, non-Hispanic | −0.108 | −0.173 * |
| [−0.240 – 0.024] | [−0.308 - −0.038] | |
| Hispanic | 0.016 | −0.063 |
| [−0.131 – 0.163] | [−0.217 – 0.090] | |
| Other race, non-Hispanic | −0.122 | −0.352 ^ |
| [−0.463 – 0.220] | [−0.706 – 0.002] | |
| Multiracial, non-Hispanic | 0.039 | 0.061 |
| [−0.160 – 0.238] | [−0.144 – 0.266] | |
| Boy | −0.297 *** | −0.219 *** |
| [−0.388 - −0.206] | [−0.314 - −0.124] | |
| Age | 0.008 | −0.038 |
| [−0.044 – 0.061] | [−0.093 – 0.017] | |
| Reading comprehension | −0.004 ** | −0.007 *** |
| [−0.008 - −0.001] | [−0.010 - −0.003] | |
| Delinquency | 0.023 * | 0.005 |
| [0.001 – 0.045] | [−0.018 – 0.027] | |
| Internalizing behaviors | −0.010 | −0.036 |
| [−0.244 – 0.225] | [−0.269 – 0.196] | |
| Closeness to mother | −0.060 * | −0.030 |
| [−0.115 - −0.005] | [−0.088 – 0.028] | |
| Communication with mother | −0.018 | −0.022 |
| [−0.067 – 0.030] | [−0.073 – 0.029] | |
| Closeness to father | −0.045 ^ | −0.029 |
| [−0.096 – 0.007] | [−0.083 – 0.025] | |
| Communication with father | −0.008 | −0.022 |
| [−0.062 – 0.046] | [−0.078 – 0.034] | |
| Parent Characteristics | ||
| Mother education (reference = less than high school diploma) | ||
| High school diploma or GED | 0.077 | 0.046 |
| [−0.047 – 0.200] | [−0.083 – 0.174] | |
| More than high school | 0.049 | 0.072 |
| [−0.057 – 0.155] | [−0.037 – 0.182] | |
| Mother income-to-poverty ratio | −0.001 | −0.007 |
| [−0.027 – 0.026] | [−0.035 – 0.021] | |
| Parent relationship status (reference = married) | ||
| Cohabiting | −0.059 | −0.018 |
| [−0.222 – 0.103] | [−0.192 – 0.156] | |
| Non-residential romantic | −0.035 | −0.080 |
| [−0.304 – 0.234] | [−0.359 – 0.200] | |
| Separated | −0.031 | −0.054 |
| [−0.152 – 0.090] | [−0.179 – 0.072] | |
| Mother ever depressed | 0.115 ** | 0.102 * |
| [0.030 - 0.199] | [0.014 - 0.189] | |
| Father ever depressed | −0.029 | −0.005 |
| [−0.122 - 0.064] | [−0.101 - 0.091] | |
| Mother ever incarcerated | −0.212 * | −0.177 ^ |
| [−0.400 - 0.025] | [−0.372 - 0.017] | |
| Father ever incarcerated | 0.024 | 0.013 |
| [−0.068 - 0.116] | [−0.081 - 0.107] | |
| Constant | 2.573 | 3.693 |
| Adjusted R-squared | 0.074 | 0.058 |
| N | 3,437 | 3,437 |
Notes:
p < .10,
p < .05,
p < .01,
p < .001.
Police Contact and Mental Health, Variation by Youth Race
Table 3 presents estimates from OLS regression models that examine the relationship between disclosure of police contact and mental health by youth race, first for the full sample and then for the analytic sample restricted to youth who report police contact. We turn first to the estimates for the full sample (Panel A). Results show that, net of all control variables, police contact is associated with depressive symptoms for both Black youth (b = 0.107, CI = 0.044 – 0.171) and non-Black youth (b = 0.207, CI = 0.136 – 0.277). Police contact is also associated with anxiety for both groups of youth (b = 0.098, CI = 0.028 – 0.168 for Black youth; b = 0.172, CI = 0.095 – 0.250 for non-Black youth). For both outcome variables, the coefficient for non-Black youth is about twice as large as the coefficient for Black youth.
Table 3.
Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) Regression Models Estimating the Relationship between Youth Disclosure of Police Contact and Mental Health, Variation by Race
| Depressive symptoms | Anxiety | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|||
| Black youth | Non-Black youth | Black youth | Non-Black youth | |
|
|
|
|||
| b | b | b | b | |
| [C.I.] | [C.I.] | [C.I.] | [C.I.] | |
|
| ||||
| Panel A. Full Sample | ||||
| Youth police contact | 0.107 ** | 0.207 *** | 0.098 ** | 0.172 *** |
| [0.044 – 0.171] | [0.136 – 0.277] | [0.028 – 0.168] | [0.095 – 0.250] | |
| Constant | 2.735 | 2.282 | 3.398 | 3.069 |
| Adjusted R-squared | 0.060 | 0.083 | 0.064 | 0.051 |
| N | 1,600 | 1,663 | 1,600 | 1,663 |
| Panel B. Sample Restricted to Youth with Police Contact | ||||
| Youth disclosed police contact | −0.075 | 0.033 | −0.117 ^ | −0.041 |
| [−0.187 – 0.038] | [−0.121 – 0.186] | [−0.237 – 0.003] | [−0.200 – 0.117] | |
| Constant | 3.700 | 1.629 | 4.442 | 2.809 |
| Adjusted R-squared | 0.073 | 0.082 | 0.057 | 0.036 |
| N | 495 | 374 | 495 | 374 |
| Race/ethnic subgroups, full sample | ||||
| White youth | Hispanic youth | White youth | Hispanic youth | |
| 0.196** | 0.222*** | 0.204** | 0.136* | |
| [0.076 – 0.316] | [0.119 – 0.326] | [0.069 – 0.340] | [0.024 – 0.249] | |
| Race/ethnic subgroups, restricted sample | ||||
| White youth | Hispanic youth | White youth | Hispanic youth | |
| −0.007 | 0.151 | −0.06 | 0.04* | |
| [−0.324 – 0.311] | [−0.082 – 0.385] | [−0.381 – 0.260] | [−0.195 – 0.276] | |
| 128 | 175 | 128 | 175 | |
| Adjusted R-squared, full sample | ||||
| 1 | 0.058 | 0.084 | 0.060 | 0.057 |
| 2 | 0.060 | 0.080 | 0.063 | 0.052 |
| 3 | 0.062 | 0.083 | 0.065 | 0.054 |
| 4 | 0.056 | 0.086 | 0.063 | 0.053 |
| 5 | 0.060 | 0.089 | 0.059 | 0.053 |
| 6 | 0.064 | 0.088 | 0.070 | 0.052 |
| 7 | 0.059 | 0.081 | 0.061 | 0.052 |
| 8 | 0.057 | 0.078 | 0.059 | 0.052 |
| 9 | 0.065 | 0.078 | 0.068 | 0.050 |
| 10 | 0.059 | 0.081 | 0.061 | 0.051 |
| 11 | 0.059 | 0.084 | 0.066 | 0.052 |
| 12 | 0.063 | 0.086 | 0.063 | 0.048 |
| 13 | 0.054 | 0.083 | 0.056 | 0.054 |
| 14 | 0.054 | 0.080 | 0.061 | 0.045 |
| 15 | 0.060 | 0.081 | 0.066 | 0.050 |
| 16 | 0.067 | 0.083 | 0.067 | 0.052 |
| 17 | 0.062 | 0.085 | 0.069 | 0.048 |
| 18 | 0.066 | 0.086 | 0.068 | 0.055 |
| 19 | 0.064 | 0.080 | 0.064 | 0.046 |
| 20 | 0.060 | 0.082 | 0.063 | 0.052 |
| 0.060 | 0.083 | 0.064 | 0.051 | |
| Adjusted R-squared, restricted sample | ||||
| 1 | 0.082 | 0.083 | 0.054 | 0.037 |
| 2 | 0.080 | 0.080 | 0.071 | 0.039 |
| 3 | 0.072 | 0.087 | 0.058 | 0.034 |
| 4 | 0.066 | 0.077 | 0.063 | 0.036 |
| 5 | 0.065 | 0.101 | 0.039 | 0.044 |
| 6 | 0.070 | 0.089 | 0.063 | 0.034 |
| 7 | 0.068 | 0.079 | 0.061 | 0.037 |
| 8 | 0.071 | 0.075 | 0.059 | 0.045 |
| 9 | 0.072 | 0.089 | 0.054 | 0.042 |
| 10 | 0.073 | 0.079 | 0.057 | 0.038 |
| 11 | 0.073 | 0.083 | 0.054 | 0.034 |
| 12 | 0.086 | 0.084 | 0.057 | 0.029 |
| 13 | 0.072 | 0.087 | 0.055 | 0.042 |
| 14 | 0.076 | 0.064 | 0.061 | 0.032 |
| 15 | 0.070 | 0.085 | 0.047 | 0.036 |
| 16 | 0.071 | 0.079 | 0.048 | 0.032 |
| 17 | 0.080 | 0.085 | 0.064 | 0.037 |
| 18 | 0.072 | 0.079 | 0.065 | 0.040 |
| 19 | 0.072 | 0.079 | 0.055 | 0.027 |
| 20 | 0.071 | 0.081 | 0.061 | 0.032 |
| 0.073 | 0.082 | 0.057 | 0.036 | |
We next turn to estimates for the sample of youth who report police contact (Panel B). Results show that, net of all control variables, disclosure of police contact is not associated with depressive symptoms for Black youth (b = −0.075, CI = −0.187 – 0.038) or non-Black youth (b = 0.033, CI = −0.121 – 0.186). Results also show that Black youth who disclose their police contact have significantly lower anxiety than Black youth who do not disclose their police contact (b = −0.117, CI = −0.237 – 0.003) and that these protective consequences of disclosure do not apply for non-Black youth (b = −0.041, CI = −0.200 – 0.117).
Police Contact and Mental Health, Variation by Youth Sex
Table 4 presents results from OLS regression models that examine the relationship between disclosure of police contact and mental health by youth sex, first for the full sample and then for the analytic sample restricted to youth who report police contact. Results for the full sample show that, net of control variables, police contact is associated with both depressive symptoms for boys and girls, with the magnitude of the association larger for girls (b = 0.216, CI = 0.134 – 0.297) than for boys (b = 0.108, CI = 0.053 – 0.162). The association between police contact and anxiety is also larger for girls (b = 0.168, CI = 0.079 – 0.258) than for boys (b = 0.102, CI = 0.042 – 0.161). Though the magnitude of the association is larger for girls, for both outcomes, the differences between groups are not statistically significant (as seen by the overlapping confidence intervals). Results for the sample of youth who report police contact (Panel B) shows that disclosure is not associated with depressive symptoms for boys (b = −0.002, CI = −0.100 – 0.097) or girls (b = −0.123, CI = −0.321 – 0.075). Disclosure is associated with significantly lower anxiety among boys (b = −0.108, CI = −0.211 – −0.006) but not among girls (b = −0.040, CI = −0.244 – 0.164). Again, the differences across groups are not statistically significant.
Table 4.
Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) Regression Models Estimating the Relationship between Youth Disclosure of Police Contact and Mental Health, Variation by Sex
| Depressive symptoms | Anxiety | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|||
| Boys | Girls | Boys | Girls | |
|
|
|
|||
| b | b | b | b | |
| [C.I.] | [C.I.] | [C.I.] | [C.I.] | |
|
| ||||
| Panel A. Full Sample | ||||
| Youth police contact | 0.108*** | 0.216*** | 0.102 | 0.168*** |
| [0.053 – 0.162] | [0.134 – 0.297] | [0.042 – 0.161] | [0.079 – 0.258] | |
| Constant | 2.043 | 2.481 | 3.075 | 3.130 |
| Adjusted R-squared | 0.064 | 0.058 | 0.057 | 0.047 |
| N | 1,771 | 1,666 | 1,771 | 1,666 |
| Panel B. Sample Restricted to Youth with Police Contact | ||||
| Youth disclosed police contact | −0.002 | −0.123 | −0.108* | −0.040 |
| [−0.100 – 0.097] | [−0.321 – 0.075] | [−0.211 – −0.006] | [−0.244 – 0.164] | |
| Constant | 1.831 | 3.204 | 3.251 | 3.454 |
| Adjusted R-squared | 0.041 | 0.046 | 0.041 | 0.048 |
| N | 640 | 275 | 640 | 275 |
| Adjusted R-squared, full sample | ||||
| 1 | 0.066 | 0.057 | 0.062 | 0.049 |
| 2 | 0.065 | 0.053 | 0.057 | 0.044 |
| 3 | 0.066 | 0.058 | 0.064 | 0.049 |
| 4 | 0.061 | 0.062 | 0.059 | 0.050 |
| 5 | 0.065 | 0.061 | 0.054 | 0.049 |
| 6 | 0.064 | 0.062 | 0.057 | 0.052 |
| 7 | 0.058 | 0.055 | 0.054 | 0.044 |
| 8 | 0.062 | 0.051 | 0.059 | 0.043 |
| 9 | 0.061 | 0.059 | 0.056 | 0.051 |
| 10 | 0.065 | 0.057 | 0.056 | 0.048 |
| 11 | 0.063 | 0.059 | 0.062 | 0.044 |
| 12 | 0.064 | 0.061 | 0.052 | 0.046 |
| 13 | 0.062 | 0.057 | 0.052 | 0.048 |
| 14 | 0.061 | 0.058 | 0.053 | 0.046 |
| 15 | 0.060 | 0.058 | 0.052 | 0.050 |
| 16 | 0.063 | 0.060 | 0.061 | 0.046 |
| 17 | 0.069 | 0.057 | 0.059 | 0.046 |
| 18 | 0.067 | 0.061 | 0.060 | 0.049 |
| 19 | 0.064 | 0.055 | 0.061 | 0.039 |
| 20 | 0.064 | 0.058 | 0.055 | 0.053 |
| 0.064 | 0.058 | 0.057 | 0.047 | |
| Adjusted R-squared, restricted sample | ||||
| 1 | 0.048 | 0.052 | 0.041 | 0.048 |
| 2 | 0.043 | 0.032 | 0.047 | 0.039 |
| 3 | 0.046 | 0.051 | 0.040 | 0.053 |
| 4 | 0.036 | 0.046 | 0.042 | 0.051 |
| 5 | 0.042 | 0.045 | 0.038 | 0.042 |
| 6 | 0.037 | 0.042 | 0.042 | 0.036 |
| 7 | 0.033 | 0.042 | 0.041 | 0.037 |
| 8 | 0.042 | 0.030 | 0.050 | 0.048 |
| 9 | 0.038 | 0.058 | 0.040 | 0.055 |
| 10 | 0.035 | 0.055 | 0.043 | 0.062 |
| 11 | 0.045 | 0.037 | 0.040 | 0.041 |
| 12 | 0.040 | 0.062 | 0.035 | 0.052 |
| 13 | 0.042 | 0.045 | 0.046 | 0.051 |
| 14 | 0.035 | 0.046 | 0.039 | 0.053 |
| 15 | 0.037 | 0.053 | 0.032 | 0.050 |
| 16 | 0.033 | 0.034 | 0.031 | 0.039 |
| 17 | 0.047 | 0.062 | 0.043 | 0.055 |
| 18 | 0.048 | 0.043 | 0.051 | 0.045 |
| 19 | 0.043 | 0.036 | 0.043 | 0.048 |
| 20 | 0.045 | 0.042 | 0.040 | 0.049 |
| 0.041 | 0.046 | 0.041 | 0.048 | |
See Appendix Tables 3 and 4 for combined race and sex subgroups (estimating depressive symptoms and anxiety, respectively), though results should be interpreted cautiously given the small sample sizes. The association between police contact and depressive symptoms is largest for non-Black girls (b = 0.275, CI = 0.144 – 0.406), followed by Black girls (b = 0.176, CI = 0.068 – 0.284), non-Black boys (b = 0.166, CI = 0.086 – 0.246), and Black boys (b = 0.062, CI = −0.016 – 0.140). The association between police contact and anxiety is also largest for non-Black girls (b = 0.265, CI = 0.121 – 0.409). Turning to the estimates restricted to youth experiencing police contact, the magnitude of the association between disclosure and depressive symptoms is largest among Black girls (b = −0.251, CI = −0.502 – −0.001) and the magnitude of the association between disclosure and anxiety is largest among Black boys (b = −0.122, CI = −0.259 – 0.015).
Appendix Table 3.
Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) Regression Models Estimating the Relationship between Youth Disclosure of Police Contact and Depressive Symptoms, Variation by Race and Sex
| Black boys | Black girls | Non-Black boys | Non-Black girls | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
||||
| b | b | b | b | |
| [C.I.] | [C.I.] | [C.I.] | [C.I.] | |
|
| ||||
| Panel A. Full Sample | ||||
| Youth police contact | 0.062 | 0.176 ** | 0.166 *** | 0.275 *** |
| [−0.016 – 0.140] | [0.068 - 0.284] | [0.086 – 0.246] | [0.144 – 0.406] | |
| Constant | 3.010 | 2.182 | 1.495 | 2.781 |
| Adjusted R-squared | 0.053 | 0.051 | 0.078 | 0.067 |
| N | 805 | 795 | 862 | 801 |
| Panel B. Sample Restricted to Youth with Police Contact | ||||
| Youth disclosed police contact | 0.015 | −0.251 * | −0.002 | 0.116 |
| [−0.111 – 0.140] | [−0.502 – −0.001] | [−0.172 – 0.167] | [−0.254 – 0.487] | |
| Constant | 3.223 | 3.192 | 0.318 | 3.365 |
| Adjusted R-squared | 0.032 | 0.076 | 0.073 | 0.035 |
| N | 340 | 155 | 263 | 111 |
| Adjusted R-squared, full sample | ||||
| 1 | 0.053 | 0.050 | 0.081 | 0.072 |
| 2 | 0.052 | 0.053 | 0.082 | 0.057 |
| 3 | 0.051 | 0.054 | 0.083 | 0.064 |
| 4 | 0.052 | 0.047 | 0.071 | 0.079 |
| 5 | 0.051 | 0.049 | 0.084 | 0.068 |
| 6 | 0.059 | 0.053 | 0.082 | 0.072 |
| 7 | 0.052 | 0.051 | 0.071 | 0.061 |
| 8 | 0.056 | 0.042 | 0.070 | 0.057 |
| 9 | 0.055 | 0.055 | 0.073 | 0.063 |
| 10 | 0.053 | 0.044 | 0.078 | 0.064 |
| 11 | 0.053 | 0.050 | 0.080 | 0.066 |
| 12 | 0.055 | 0.051 | 0.079 | 0.070 |
| 13 | 0.043 | 0.050 | 0.082 | 0.063 |
| 14 | 0.044 | 0.049 | 0.077 | 0.063 |
| 15 | 0.051 | 0.054 | 0.078 | 0.073 |
| 16 | 0.056 | 0.057 | 0.072 | 0.070 |
| 17 | 0.061 | 0.046 | 0.080 | 0.067 |
| 18 | 0.056 | 0.061 | 0.081 | 0.070 |
| 19 | 0.061 | 0.051 | 0.074 | 0.063 |
| 20 | 0.051 | 0.048 | 0.078 | 0.068 |
| 0.053 | 0.051 | 0.078 | 0.067 | |
| Adjusted R-squared, restricted sample | ||||
| 1 | 0.044 | 0.079 | 0.072 | 0.036 |
| 2 | 0.034 | 0.085 | 0.075 | 0.001 |
| 3 | 0.029 | 0.082 | 0.090 | 0.033 |
| 4 | 0.035 | 0.046 | 0.064 | 0.067 |
| 5 | 0.028 | 0.048 | 0.089 | 0.078 |
| 6 | 0.033 | 0.068 | 0.078 | 0.026 |
| 7 | 0.030 | 0.061 | 0.048 | 0.029 |
| 8 | 0.037 | 0.058 | 0.071 | 0.053 |
| 9 | 0.029 | 0.081 | 0.076 | 0.036 |
| 10 | 0.026 | 0.088 | 0.053 | 0.064 |
| 11 | 0.029 | 0.084 | 0.075 | 0.007 |
| 12 | 0.036 | 0.103 | 0.065 | 0.054 |
| 13 | 0.026 | 0.090 | 0.078 | 0.001 |
| 14 | 0.036 | 0.097 | 0.058 | 0.066 |
| 15 | 0.032 | 0.064 | 0.075 | 0.050 |
| 16 | 0.027 | 0.076 | 0.070 | 0.019 |
| 17 | 0.035 | 0.089 | 0.075 | 0.047 |
| 18 | 0.035 | 0.084 | 0.071 | 0.012 |
| 19 | 0.033 | 0.070 | 0.078 | 0.002 |
| 20 | 0.030 | 0.075 | 0.092 | 0.023 |
| 0.032 | 0.076 | 0.073 | 0.035 | |
p < .10,
p < .05,
p < .01,
p < .001.
Appendix Table 4.
Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) Regression Models Estimating the Relationship between Youth Disclosure of Police Contact and Anxiety, Variation by Race and Sex
| Black boys | Black girls | Non-Black boys | Non-Black girls | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
||||
| b | b | b | b | |
| [C.I.] | [C.I.] | [C.I.] | [C.I.] | |
|
| ||||
| Panel A. Full Sample | ||||
| Youth police contact | 0.106 * | 0.083 | 0.123 | 0.265 *** |
| [0.020 – 0.192] | [−0.036 – 0.202] | [0.035 – 0.211] | [0.121 – 0.409] | |
| Constant | 3.499 | 3.071 | 2.958 | 2.930 |
| Adjusted R-squared | 0.064 | 0.050 | 0.06l | 0.043 |
| N | 805 | 795 | 862 | 801 |
| Panel B. Sample Restricted to Youth with Police Contact | ||||
| Youth disclosed police contact | −0.122 ^ | −0.065 | −0.082 | 0.079 |
| [−0.259 – 0.015] | [−0.328 - 0.198] | [−0.258 – 0.094] | [−0.296 – 0.454] | |
| Constant | 4.065 | 4.221 | 2.324 | 2.328 |
| Adjusted R-squared | 0.052 | 0.020 | 0.005 | 0.074 |
| N | 340 | 155 | 263 | 111 |
| Adjusted R-squared, full sample | ||||
| 1 | 0.064 | 0.044 | 0.064 | 0.048 |
| 2 | 0.064 | 0.051 | 0.064 | 0.040 |
| 3 | 0.067 | 0.050 | 0.075 | 0.042 |
| 4 | 0.064 | 0.048 | 0.062 | 0.053 |
| 5 | 0.056 | 0.048 | 0.060 | 0.043 |
| 6 | 0.072 | 0.054 | 0.053 | 0.044 |
| 7 | 0.069 | 0.048 | 0.057 | 0.045 |
| 8 | 0.063 | 0.042 | 0.061 | 0.038 |
| 9 | 0.070 | 0.053 | 0.058 | 0.044 |
| 10 | 0.063 | 0.044 | 0.059 | 0.044 |
| 11 | 0.068 | 0.054 | 0.071 | 0.039 |
| 12 | 0.060 | 0.052 | 0.054 | 0.036 |
| 13 | 0.051 | 0.046 | 0.059 | 0.045 |
| 14 | 0.060 | 0.050 | 0.055 | 0.038 |
| 15 | 0.063 | 0.058 | 0.063 | 0.051 |
| 16 | 0.071 | 0.050 | 0.065 | 0.042 |
| 17 | 0.069 | 0.055 | 0.060 | 0.043 |
| 18 | 0.067 | 0.055 | 0.067 | 0.046 |
| 19 | 0.067 | 0.045 | 0.063 | 0.030 |
| 20 | 0.058 | 0.053 | 0.058 | 0.050 |
| 0.064 | 0.050 | 0.061 | 0.043 | |
| Adjusted R-squared, restricted sample | ||||
| 1 | 0.048 | 0.004 | 0.001 | 0.074 |
| 2 | 0.064 | 0.049 | 0.005 | 0.044 |
| 3 | 0.044 | 0.030 | 0.003 | 0.112 |
| 4 | 0.058 | 0.010 | 0.001 | 0.102 |
| 5 | 0.036 | 0.008 | 0.014 | 0.077 |
| 6 | 0.056 | 0.016 | 0.002 | 0.013 |
| 7 | 0.062 | 0.031 | 0.007 | 0.042 |
| 8 | 0.064 | 0.001 | 0.016 | 0.084 |
| 9 | 0.048 | 0.005 | 0.001 | 0.106 |
| 10 | 0.053 | 0.016 | 0.001 | 0.077 |
| 11 | 0.050 | 0.016 | 0.012 | 0.055 |
| 12 | 0.046 | 0.025 | 0.001 | 0.048 |
| 13 | 0.052 | 0.022 | 0.012 | 0.034 |
| 14 | 0.056 | 0.023 | 0.001 | 0.134 |
| 15 | 0.045 | 0.004 | 0.006 | 0.104 |
| 16 | 0.041 | 0.008 | 0.002 | 0.093 |
| 17 | 0.052 | 0.037 | 0.001 | 0.081 |
| 18 | 0.061 | 0.035 | 0.014 | 0.042 |
| 19 | 0.049 | 0.034 | 0.001 | 0.047 |
| 20 | 0.053 | 0.035 | 0.003 | 0.106 |
| 0.052 | 0.020 | 0.005 | 0.074 | |
DISCUSSION
The stress process perspective suggests that stressors, such as police contact, are concentrated among vulnerable population groups and have deleterious ramifications for mental health [15,16]. The stress process perspective also suggests that social support may ameliorate the deleterious consequences of stressors for mental health [31]. Indeed, police contact is a stressor and disclosure of police contact—particularly if met with a supportive, understanding, and/or helpful response—may be a type of social support that can protect against the harmful mental health consequences of police stops [1,38]. We examine this possibility with data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a cohort of urban children who entered adolescence during an era of proactive policing [3]. Our results suggest three conclusions.
First, we find that police contact (regardless of disclosure) is positively associated with depressive symptoms and anxiety. This is consistent with expectations from the stress process perspective, which highlights the consequential nature of stressors [15,16]. This is also consistent with research that increasingly documents deleterious consequences of police contact for mental health [9–12, 23–29]. Youth police contact, which is unequally experienced by vulnerable youth, is an undesirable and harmful experience [1,5,50]. It highlights power differentials [51], can be accompanied with forms of invasiveness such as destructive language or physical violence [5], and can dampen orientations toward the future [52].
Second, we find that disclosure of police contact is negatively associated with anxiety. That is, among youth experiencing police contact, disclosure of the contact can protect against the negative consequences for anxiety. Disclosing police contact can lessen youth’s fear stemming from the stop, fear of future criminal justice contact, or fear about how future criminal justice contact may impair life chances [53–55]. Disclosing police contact may also give youth an opportunity to receive emotional support (e.g., validation that they experienced a stressful and traumatizing event) or instrumental support (e.g., how to engage with the police if stopped again) [56].
Relatedly, we find no differences in depressive symptoms among youth who do and do not disclose their police contact. This may suggest that disclosure, though protective against anxiety, does little to ameliorate the feelings of sadness and hopelessness ascertained in our depressive symptoms measure that are associated with police contact. Alternatively, this may suggest that youth have heterogeneous responses to disclosing their police contact, with disclosure protecting against depressive symptoms for some youth and disclosure not protecting against depressive symptoms for other youth. These heterogeneous responses to disclosing may stem from youth characteristics (e.g., if disclosing facilitates feelings of shame) or from the supportiveness (or the lack of supportiveness) they receive from their confidantes. Qualitative research may better elucidate these processes, by allowing for an understanding of youth’s decisions around disclosure (that is, if, who, when, and how to disclose), youth’s expectations about reactions from various people in their lives, and youth’s experiences of support after disclosure.
Third, we find that the beneficial repercussions of disclosing police contact for anxiety are concentrated among Black youth (compared to non-Black youth) and boys (compared to girls). This may be related to the frequency of police stops within one’s larger social network, long recognized as particularly high in Black communities [8,58] and among Black males in particular [1]. Personal familiarity with others who have been involved with the police or broader criminal justice system may soften negative attitudes about justice-involved individuals [59]. Disclosure to similarly-situated others with analogous experiences, or to people who know others with analogous experiences, may reduce internalized stigma among stopped youth. Though we cannot examine this mechanism with certainty, it is consistent with the potential isolation and social stigma identified in recent research [37].
Limitations
These data—with their information about both disclosure of police contact and mental health from a national sample of youth—are the best available to answer our research questions, but several limitations should be kept in mind when interpreting the results. First, the key analyses are necessarily restricted to youth who experience police contact, and the restricted analytic sample reduces statistical power (for both the main associations and the subgroup associations). Relatedly, small sample sizes necessitate combining all non-Black youth, which may overlook meaningful differences across smaller race/ethnic groups in the sample. We focus on both point estimates and statistical significance when interpreting our results [60]. Second, our mental health outcomes are measured using brief subscales of more comprehensive diagnostic measures of both depression and anxiety [41,42]. It bears noting both depression and anxiety are more complex conditions than these survey data can fully assess. Third, the data do not allow for an examination of variation in associations across sexual orientation (due to small sample sizes) or gender identity (due to no information), a limitation given the disproportionate risk of police contact among sexual minority youth [61]. Fourth, a bidirectional association may exist between disclosure and mental health, in which youth with fewer depressive symptoms and anxiety prior to police contact had systematically different patterns of disclosing police contact [62–65]. We take steps to account for the possibility of a bidirectional association, by adjusting for youth’s internalizing behaviors prior to police contact (at the 9-year survey), but ideally we would adjust for a lagged dependent variable (that is, depressive symptoms or anxiety) temporally closer to the police contact (which occurred at any point between the 9- and 15-year surveys). Finally, though Table 1 shows few observed differences between youth who do and do not disclose police contact, there may be unobserved differences between these two groups of youth that could render the association between disclosure and mental health spurious. The analyses presented, while suggestive of a plausible causal relationship, cannot be presumed causal, and should be interpreted cautiously.
Conclusions
Youth commonly disclose police contact, particularly to their mothers [37]. In this paper, we use a broadly representative sample of urban youth to investigate the relationship between disclosure of police contact and mental health, adding to a nascent literature examining police contact and youth well-being [23,24,27]. Disclosure of police contact may buffer against mental health consequences, consistent with expectations from the stress process perspective [15,31]. Though interventions should primarily target reducing the need for police contact with youth, this research suggests that interventions focused on youth disclosure can alleviate downstream health consequences of police contact. The findings also highlight another way how police encounters, manifestations of structural or interpersonal racism, can have important consequences for health and health disparities in the United States.
Acknowledgments
Funding for the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study was provided by the NICHD through grants R01HD36916, R01HD39135, and R01HD40421, as well as a consortium of private foundations (see http://www.fragilefamilies.princeton.edu/funders.asp for the complete list). This paper benefitted from the feedback of participants at the Fragile Families Working Group.
Contributor Information
Kristin Turney, University of California, Irvine.
Amanda Geller, University of California, Irvine.
Sarah Cowan, New York University.
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