The Prevalence and Correlates of Exposure to Perceived Racism-Based Police Violence Among Black Emerging Adult Men and Women

Background and Purpose: Exposure to perceived racism-based violence is a public health concern for Black emerging adults ages 18-29 given its prevalence and association with negative health outcomes. However, research examining the frequency of exposure to perceived racism-based police violence and factors associated with this type of violence exposure for Black emerging adults is scant. To address the noted gap in science, this cross-sectional study investigated the prevalence and correlates of direct (i.e., victim or witness in person) and indirect (i.e., seen in the media) exposure to perceived racism-based police violence among a sample of Black emerging adults in St. Louis, Missouri.

Methods: Computer assisted surveys were administered to English-speaking Black emerging adults (n = 300) with a history of exposure to police use of force. Univariate, bivariate, and ordinal logistic regression analyses were conducted.

Results: Participants self-reported frequency of direct (Mean = 5.85, SD = 8.95) and indirect (Mean = 10.4, SD = 5.87) exposure to perceived racism-based police violence during the past 12-months was moderately low. Bivariate analysis revealed positive significant relationships between both direct and indirect exposure to perceived racism-based police violence and the number of involuntary police contacts during lifetime, and each of the Race-based Traumatic Stress Symptom scales (i.e., depression, intrusion, anger, hypervigilance, physical, low self-esteem, and avoidance). Additionally, findings from ordinal logistic regression analysis revealed that income (B = 3.25), number of involuntary police contacts during lifetime (B = .467), intrusion (B = 1.98), and avoidance (B = 3.38) significantly predicted an increase in the frequency of direct exposure to racism-based police violence, whereas gender (B = 1.36), age (B = .264), past 30-day marijuana use (B = .074), depression (B = 1.50), and intrusion (B = 1.28) significantly predicted an increase in the frequency of indirect exposure to racism-based police violence.

Conclusions and Implications: Results from our study suggest that Black emerging adults with incomes less than $10,000 and a history of involuntary contacts with the police are at risk for experiencing direct exposure to perceived racism-based police violence and associated race-based trauma symptoms. Also, older Black emerging adult females with a history of marijuana use are at risk for experiencing indirect exposure to perceived racism-based police violence and associated race-based trauma symptoms. However, future research utilizing a nationally representative sample of Black emerging adult U.S. residents to examine the prevalence and correlates of exposure (direct and indirect) to perceived racism-based police violence for the generalizability of research findings is warranted.