The Health-Related Consequences to Police Stops as Pathways to Risks in Academic Performance for Urban Adolescents

Juan Del Toro, Alvin Thomas, Ming-Te Wang and Diane Hughes
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Juan Del Toro: University of Pittsburgh
Alvin Thomas: University of Wisconsin – Madison
Ming-Te Wang: University of Pittsburgh
Diane Hughes: New York University

Working Papers from Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing.

Abstract: Several heuristic models posited that environmental stress disrupt adolescents' engagement and performance in school, but few studies have identified police as a source of such stress. We examined whether police stops, direct and vicarious instances, predicted decrements in adolescents' grades via their psychological (i.e., depressive and anxiety symptoms) and health(i.e., sleep problems and self-rated health statuses) stress responses. We also examined whether the observed correlates varied across ethnic-racial and gender groups. To do so, we used two waves of longitudinal survey data from the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study.Children completed surveys when they were, on average, ages 9 and 15. Results illustrated that direct and vicarious police stops at age 15 predicted lower grades contemporaneously,controlling for adolescents’ self-rated health, sleep, and performance on the Woodcock-Johnson tests at age 9. Psychological distress, sleep problems, and self-rated health at age 15 partially mediated the relations between police stops and grades. The negative consequences of vicarious police stops were specific to the boys and girls of color; vicarious police contact did not predict adolescents' grades for White boys and White girls. We discussed the implications of our results as they pertain to policing and adolescent development.

Keywords: ethnicity-race; gender; policing; health; academic achievement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I14 I24 I29 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-law and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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