Black Youth and the Boys in Blue: Associations Between Police Treatment, Mental Health, and Ethnic Identity in African American Juvenile Offenders

Abstract

The present study was conducted to further our understanding of the correlates of and variations in perceptions of police treatment among African American adolescent offenders. Ethnic identity development can play a role in youths' sensitivity to stigma, but whether this finding applies to black youth involved in the juvenile justice system has not been explored. Although there is evidence for a robust association between perceptions of discrimination and negative psychological outcomes, there is a dearth of research that investigates a) the directional nature of these associations, and b) how associations vary as a function of perceptions of personal and group discrimination. Participants were 501 African American youth ages 14-18 who were adjudicated of a felony or serious misdemeanor in Philadelphia. Data were taken from annual interviews conducted over the course of four years. Increased ethnic identity exploration was related to the perception that police use biased behavior against people from different racial/ethnic backgrounds. Furthermore, there was a relatively stronger association between psychological distress and perceptions of police behavior among youth who reported taking an active role in making meaning of their ethnicity,. Finally, the results of this study support drawing a distinction between personal and global perceptions of discrimination, in that their links to psychological distress differed with respect to the direction of effects. Specifically, whereas negative personal encounters with the police lead to higher levels of distress, being distressed led to more negative global perceptions of the police. This study provides evidence that normative processes in adolescence, like ethnic identity development, operate much the same way among high risk youth (e.g., juvenile offenders) as in more normative samples. This is especially important given that the consideration of normative developmental processes in high-risk samples like juvenile offenders can have implications for rehabilitation efforts. Finally, the present research highlights the need for the education of law enforcement agencies regarding adolescent development and factors that might increase or decrease young people's willingness to comply with the law.