TY - JOUR
T1 - Police discrimination among Black, Latina/x/o, and White adolescents
T2 - Examining frequency and relations to academic functioning
AU - Zeiders, Katharine H.
AU - Umaña-Taylor, Adriana J.
AU - Carbajal, Selena
AU - Pech, Alexandria
N1 - Funding Information:
The first author identifies as White European American and uses she/her/hers gender pronouns. The second author identifies as a U.S.-born Latina raised by immigrant parents and uses she/her/ella gender pronouns. The third author identifies as Mexican American and uses she/her/hers gender pronouns. The fourth author identifies as Latina and uses she/her/hers gender pronouns. The authors thank the participating students, the school administrators who facilitated data collection, and all research assistants and staff who contributed to the research process. Funding for this work was provided by the Latino Resilience Enterprise at Arizona State University .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021
PY - 2021/7
Y1 - 2021/7
N2 - Introduction: Concerns regarding police brutality and violence against people of color in the U.S. remain high in the current sociohistorical moment in which the recent murder of George Floyd by a police officer is highly salient. Although the prevalence and consequences of such experiences for Black and Latina/x/o adults have been documented in the literature, there is a limited understanding of youths’ negative experiences with police. Methods: Utilizing a sample of 1378 adolescents (Mage = 16.16 years, SD = 1.12), the current study examined Black, Latina/x/o, and White youths' self-reports of ethnic-racial police discrimination and linked these experiences to youths’ academic engagement and academic grades. Results: Black and Latina/x/o youth reported significantly greater experiences of ethnic-racial police discrimination than their White counterparts; nearly 24% of Black youth and 20% of Latina/x/o youth experienced at least one instance of ethnic-racial police discrimination in the last year, compared to only 2.9% of White youth. Differences by gender emerged among Latina/x/o youth. Police discrimination was associated with lower academic engagement and lower academic grades among all youth. Conclusions: Findings demonstrate that the greater prevalence of ethnic-racial police discrimination in the lives of youth of color, relative to their White counterparts, mirroring the experiences of adults. Furthermore, coupled with the significant links with academic adjustment, the current findings demonstrate an additional factor that is likely implicated in the Black and Latina/x/o vs. White academic achievement gap.
AB - Introduction: Concerns regarding police brutality and violence against people of color in the U.S. remain high in the current sociohistorical moment in which the recent murder of George Floyd by a police officer is highly salient. Although the prevalence and consequences of such experiences for Black and Latina/x/o adults have been documented in the literature, there is a limited understanding of youths’ negative experiences with police. Methods: Utilizing a sample of 1378 adolescents (Mage = 16.16 years, SD = 1.12), the current study examined Black, Latina/x/o, and White youths' self-reports of ethnic-racial police discrimination and linked these experiences to youths’ academic engagement and academic grades. Results: Black and Latina/x/o youth reported significantly greater experiences of ethnic-racial police discrimination than their White counterparts; nearly 24% of Black youth and 20% of Latina/x/o youth experienced at least one instance of ethnic-racial police discrimination in the last year, compared to only 2.9% of White youth. Differences by gender emerged among Latina/x/o youth. Police discrimination was associated with lower academic engagement and lower academic grades among all youth. Conclusions: Findings demonstrate that the greater prevalence of ethnic-racial police discrimination in the lives of youth of color, relative to their White counterparts, mirroring the experiences of adults. Furthermore, coupled with the significant links with academic adjustment, the current findings demonstrate an additional factor that is likely implicated in the Black and Latina/x/o vs. White academic achievement gap.
KW - Police discrimination
KW - academic engagement
KW - academic grades
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U2 - 10.1016/j.adolescence.2021.06.001
DO - 10.1016/j.adolescence.2021.06.001
M3 - Article
C2 - 34182198
AN - SCOPUS:85108588986
SN - 0140-1971
VL - 90
SP - 91
EP - 99
JO - Journal of Adolescence
JF - Journal of Adolescence
ER -