Youth Profiles of Police-Initiated Post-Traumatic Stress Symptomatology

Background: Being stopped by the police can be a  traumatic experience for youth, placing them at higher risk of post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in the aftermath. Young people’s perceived collective efficacy, the combination of social cohesion and informal social control, refers to a community’s actuation of social ties to work towards and achieve common goals and may serve as a social resource and protective factor for youth stopped by police. This study explores profiles of post-traumatic stress symptomatology among youth stopped by the police (PI-PTSS) and tests social cohesion and informal social control as protective factors.

Method:  Data for this study are drawn from the Fragile Families Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS). The FFCWS is a longitudinal survey that follows an ethnically and racially diverse birth cohort of children, and their families, through age 18. The study sample consisted of youth who had been stopped at least one time by the police (n = 910).

PI-PTSS was measured using nine items specifically assessing how frequently youths experienced post-traumatic stress symptoms in the context of their interactions with the police. We conducted a latent class analysis on the PI-PTSS items, which identified three distinct patterns of PI-PTSS: Low PI-PTSS (n = 404, 44.4%), youth that demonstrate internalizing behaviors in terms of PI-PTSS (Avoidance; n = 285, 31.3%), and youth with high PI-PTSS (n = 221, 24.2%). We then conducted a multinomial logistic regression to test for predictors of class membership. Predictors in the multinomial logistic regression include age, gender, race, poverty status, social cohesion, informal social control, and the number of times that the youth had been stopped by the police.

Results:  There were no statistically significant predictors that distinguish youth from the Low PI-PTSS and the Internalizing class. There were, however, multiple statistically significant predictors that distinguish between youth in the High PI-PTSS class. The odds for youth who were stopped by the police three or more times were 130% higher compared to youth who were stopped once. Compared to white youth, the odds of belonging in the High PI-PTSS class were 167% higher for black youth and 115% higher youth who identified as an “Other Race”. Poverty was the strongest predictor of belonging in the High PI-PTSD class with odds of class membership being nearly 400% higher for youth in families making 50% to 99% of the federal poverty rate.

Conclusions:  Our findings show that race, poverty, and more frequent stops by the police are associated with higher levels of PI-PTSS. These findings suggest that there may be a downward spiral of policing and trauma because low-income racial and ethnic minority youth are stopped more frequently by police.  Social cohesion and informal social control were not supported as protective factors against PI-PTSS, emphasizing the importance of interventions that target the individual as opposed to the community.  These findings highlight the importance of trauma-informed care provision by social workers in the juvenile justice system, and the potential utility of trauma-informed tactics for police officers in conducting juvenile stops.