Abstract: National Prevalence Estimates of Police Violence Exposure and Related Disparities Among Young Adults in the U.S (Society for Social Work and Research 30th Annual Conference Anniversary)

Schedule:

Sunday, January 18, 2026

Monument, ML 4 (Marriott Marquis Washington DC)

* noted as presenting author

Jordan DeVylder, PhD, Associate Professor, New York University, New York, NY

Brianna Amos, LSW, Doctoral Student, New York University, New York, NY

Jacqueline Cosse, MSW, PhD Student, New York University, New York, NY

Anesu Semwayo, Student, New York University, NY

Deidre Anglin, PhD, Associate Professor, City University of New York, New York, NY

Bruce Link, PhD, Professor, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA

Lisa Fedina, PhD, Associate Professor, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, MI

Background and Purpose: Police violence is a critical social determinant of health and well-being in the United States. Non-fatal police violence exposure has been shown to vary widely across ethnoracial and other demographic groups, but has primarily been studied in non-probability samples in urban areas. The current absence of data on prevalence and sociodemographic disparities from national probability samples impedes an accurate estimation of the magnitude of the problem and, relatedly, the development of responsive policies and interventions. This study aimed to determine the past-year prevalence of physical, sexual, psychological, and neglectful police violence exposure among young adults in the U.S. and to identify inequities in exposure.

Methods: We conducted a Cross-sectional analysis of the National Survey of Poly-Victimization and Suicide Risk, a population-based probability sample of non-institutionalized young adults (18-29 years; N=1,077) drawn from the nationally representative AmeriSpeak Panel. Logistic regression was used to test for associations between self-reported and census-based sociodemographic characteristics (exposures) and past-year exposure to police violence (outcome), assessed using a brief version of the previously validated Police Practices Inventory.

Results: Sample demographics closely matched U.S. census estimates, supporting the validity of the data as a nationally representative sample of young adults in U.S. households. Past-year police violence was widely reported among this general population sample (physical: 4.0%; sexual: 3.3%; psychological: 8.5%; neglect: 7.5%), equating to an estimated 2.1 million young adults exposed to physical violence and 1.7 million exposed to sexual violence. All police violence measures were associated with race/ethnicity in unadjusted analyses, with some outcomes also associated with gender identity, socioeconomic status, urbanicity, and region of residence. Black (non-Latine) race was the only factor consistently associated with greater risk of all four sub-types of police violence exposure in the adjusted analyses.

Conclusions and Implications: Expanding upon prior studies that used non-probability samples in select U.S. cities, we found that non-fatal police violence is experienced by a substantial minority of the U.S. young adult population, and that ethnoracial disparities generalize beyond urban centers to a nationally representative sample. Federal policy solutions are needed to address the concerning prevalence and disparities in rates of exposure, while clinical approaches may alleviate some of impact among affected individuals.