Latent Class Profiles of Police Violence Exposure in 4 US Cities and Their Associations with Anticipation of Police Violence and Mental Health Outcomes

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Leslie Salas-Hernández, Emory University; Jordan E DeVylder, Fordham University; Hannah L F Cooper, Emory University; Catherine D Duarte, Stanford University; Abigail Sewell, Emory University; Elizabeth Walker, Emory University; Regine Haardörfer, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2022-06-06
• Publisher: SPRINGER
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © The Author(s) 2022
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11524-022-00643-5
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: JOURNAL OF URBAN HEALTH-BULLETIN OF THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF MEDICINE
• Volume: 99
• Issue: 4
• Start Page: 655
• End Page: 668
• Grant/Funding Information: This work was supported by the Health Policy Research Scholars, a program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
• Keywords: Police violence; Science & Technology; Latent class analysis; INTERSECTIONALITY; CONSEQUENCES; Mental health; DISCRIMINATION; LAW-ENFORCEMENT; Medicine, General & Internal; Public, Environmental & Occupational Health; ENCOUNTERS; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; YOUTH; WOMEN; Vicarious exposure to violence; General & Internal Medicine; Direct exposure to violence; CHALLENGES
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Public Health; Health Sciences, Medicine and Surgery

Abstract

While studying polyvictimization is well established within the broader violence literature and applied to other types of violence, it has yet to be documented whether polyvictimization also presents in patterns of police violence exposure (i.e., neglectful, psychological, physical, and sexual police violence). Our objective was to analyze latent patterns of co-occurring police contact and their associations with mental health. By applying latent class analysis (LCA) methods to the 2016 and 2017 Surveys of Police-Public Encounters (N = 2615), conducted in 4 Northeastern US cities, we identified classes of direct and vicarious police violence and compared sociodemographic characteristics among classes using multinomial regression. Classes were regressed on mental health outcomes. LCA identified four classes of police contact. Compared to Positive Police Contact (33.0%) class members, members of the (a) Extreme Police Violence (4.0%) class reported higher anticipation of future police victimization, psychological distress, and suicide ideations and attempts; they were more likely to be Black, cisgender men, and Latinx; (b) members of the High Police Violence (23.6%) class reported higher anticipation of future police victimization and psychological distress; they were more likely to be Black, Native American, and multiracial; members of the (c) Low Police Contact (39.5%) class had comparable mental health outcomes; they were more likely to report a household income < $19,999. Notably, no participants were unexposed to police contact. Polyvictimization presents in experiences of police violence and disproportionately impacts structurally marginalized people.