Police stops and adolescent sleep problems: findings from the UK millennium cohort study

Assessing the Effect of First-time Police Contact on Internalizing Problems Among Youth in Zurich, Switzerland: A Quasi-experimental Analysis

Growing evidence suggests that experiences with police are associated with a range of negative mental health problems among youth. This study examined the impact of negative police contact on changes in adolescent internalizing problems, measured by anxiety and depression. Six waves of data from a longitudinal study in Zurich, Switzerland were used in order to assess the direct relations between first reported police contact in the years prior to the survey moment and internalizing problems at the time of the survey and follow-up waves. The sample consists of a cohort of youth (max n = 1353, 49.4% females) spanning ages 11 to 24 (mean age and SD at each wave = 11.32 (0.37), 13.67 (0.36), 15.44 (0.36), 17.45 (0.37), 20.58 (0.38), 24.46 (0.38)). Specifically, difference-in-differences techniques for multiple time periods were employed to assess the average treatment effects for the treated population (first contact with police) compared to those who were never treated (never had contact). Across all models, police contact did not lead to an increase in internalizing problems. These results diverge from previous studies mostly conducted in the United States, and possible explanations including differences in historical contexts of policing, juvenile justice, health care, and dosage of intrusive contacts are discussed.

Sleep Problems Among Black Youth Exposed to Police Violence on Digital Media

Findings from a recent survey of a community-based sample of Black youth ages 12 through 21 in Baltimore City, Maryland (n = 345) reveal that viewing fatal police violence videos is associated with significant increases in the odds of youth sleep disturbances, and about 30% of this association is attributable to emotional distress after viewing the videos.

Cumulative Police Exposures, Police Violence Stress, and Depressive Symptoms: A Focus on Black LGBQ Youth in Baltimore City, Maryland

The present study investigates associations between cumulative police exposures, police violence stress, and depressive symptoms among Black youth, and whether LGBQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer) identities moderate these associations. Data come from the Survey of Police-Adolescent Contact Experiences (SPACE), a cross-sectional survey of a community-based sample of Black youth ages 12-21 in Baltimore City, Maryland (n = 345), administered from August 2022 to July 2023. We used multivariable ordinary least squares regression to estimate direct associations and product-term analysis to test for effect modification by sexual identities. We also calculate covariate-adjusted predicted depressive symptoms scores by cumulative police exposures and police violence stress across sexual identities. Findings indicate that LGBQ youth collectively reported higher levels of police violence stress than heterosexual youth. Still, LGBQ youth varied in their cumulative police exposures, which were significantly higher among bisexual and queer youth than lesbian or gay youth. Associations between cumulative police exposures, police violence stress, and depressive symptoms were significantly moderated by LGBQ identity, with the largest associations emerging for bisexual and queer youth. Police exposures and police violence stress also compounded to worsen depressive symptoms among the subsample of LGBQ youth. Collectively, our findings suggest that LGBQ youth-especially bisexual and queer youth-may be particularly vulnerable to the mental health harms of cumulative police exposures and police violence stress. Intersectional, public health approaches that combine prevention and treatment strategies are needed to mitigate LGBQ mental health inequities stemming from cumulative police exposures and police violence stress.

Sleep duration among adults exposed to family member incarceration during childhood

OBJECTIVES

The current study examines the association between family member incarceration during childhood and sleep duration among a national sample of adults (ages 18-80+).

METHODS

We employ data from the 2020 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (N = 116,631). We use stepwise, multinomial logistic regression to examine associations between exposure to family member incarceration during childhood and sleep duration during adulthood. We also utilize the Karlson-Holm-Breen method to investigate whether indicators of socioeconomic disadvantage, and poor mental and physical health attenuate this relationship. Finally, to examine the robustness of associations between family member incarceration and sleep duration, we used a strategic comparison approach in which participants experiencing family member incarceration were compared to participants experiencing alternative adverse childhood experiences in the absence of family member incarceration.

RESULTS

Findings demonstrate a significant association between family member incarceration and sleep duration, with particularly strong associations with short and long sleep durations (relative to optimum sleep duration). However, poor mental and physical health during adulthood and socioeconomic disadvantage significantly attenuated these associations. Strategic comparison models also revealed that the association between family member incarceration during childhood and sleep duration is robust to the accumulation of other childhood adversities.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings suggest that strategies are needed among public health practitioners, physicians, and sleep professionals to mitigate the potential adverse effects of family member incarceration during childhood on sleep duration among adults.

Police stops to reduce crime: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background

Police-initiated pedestrian stops have been one of the most widely used crime prevention tactics in modern policing. Proponents have long considered police stops to be an indispensable component of crime prevention efforts, with many holding them responsible for the significant reductions in violent crime observed across major US cities in recent decades. Critics, however, have taken issue with the overuse of pedestrian stops, linking them to worsening mental and physical health, attitudes toward the police, and elevated delinquent behavior for individuals directly subject to them. To date, there has been no systematic review or meta-analysis on the effects of these interventions on crime and individual-level outcomes.

Objectives

To synthesize the existing evaluation research regarding the impact of police-initiated pedestrian stops on crime and disorder, mental and physical health, individual attitudes toward the police, self-reported crime/delinquency, violence in police-citizen encounters, and police misbehavior.

Search Methods

We used the Global Policing Database, a repository of all experimental and quasi-experimental evaluations of policing interventions conducted since 1950, to search for published and unpublished evaluations of pedestrian stop interventions through December of 2019. This overarching search was supplemented by additional searches of academic databases, gray literature sources, and correspondence with subject-matter experts to capture eligible studies through December 2021.

Selection Criteria

Eligibility was limited to studies that included a treatment group of people or places experiencing pedestrian stops and a control group of people or places not experiencing pedestrian stops (or experiencing a lower dosage of pedestrian stops). Studies were required to use an experimental or quasi-experimental design and evaluate the intervention using an outcome of area-level crime and disorder, mental or physical health, individual or community-level attitudes toward the police, or self-reported crime/delinquency.

Data Collection and Analysis

We adopted standard methodological procedures expected by the Campbell Collaboration. Eligible studies were grouped by conceptually similar outcomes and then analyzed separately using random effects models with restricted maximum likelihood estimation. Treatment effects were represented using relative incident rate ratios, odds ratios, and Hedges' g effect sizes, depending on the unit of analysis and outcome measure. We also conducted sensitivity analyses for several outcome measures using robust variance estimation, with standard errors clustered by each unique study/sample. Risk of bias was assessed using items adapted from the Cochrane randomized and non-randomized risk of bias tools.

Results

Our systematic search strategies identified 40 eligible studies corresponding to 58 effect sizes across six outcome groupings, representing 90,904 people and 20,876 places. Police-initiated pedestrian stop interventions were associated with a statistically significant 13% (95% confidence interval [CI]: -16%, -9%, p < 0.001) reduction in crime for treatment areas relative to control areas. These interventions also led to a diffusion of crime control benefits, with a statistically significant 7% (95% CI: -9%, -4%, p < 0.001) reduction in crime for treatment displacement areas relative to control areas. However, pedestrian stops were also associated with a broad range of negative individual-level effects. Individuals experiencing police stops were associated with a statistically significant 46% (95% CI: 24%, 72%, p < 0.001) increase in the odds of a mental health issue and a 36% (95% CI: 14%, 62%, p < 0.001) increase in the odds of a physical health issue, relative to control. Individuals experiencing police stops also reported significantly more negative attitudes toward the police (g = -0.38, 95% CI: -0.59, -0.17, p < 0.001) and significantly higher levels of self-reported crime/delinquency (g = 0.30, 95% CI: 0.12, 0.48, p < 0.001), equating to changes of 18.6% and 15%, respectively. No eligible studies were identified measuring violence in police-citizen encounters or officer misbehavior. While eligible studies were often considered to be at moderate to high risk of bias toward control groups, no significant differences based on methodological rigor were observed. Moderator analyses also indicated that the negative individual-level effects of pedestrian stops may be more pronounced for youth, and that significant differences in effect sizes may exist between US and European studies. However, these moderator analyses were limited by a small number of studies in each comparison, and we were unable to compare the effects of police stops across racial groupings.

Authors' Conclusions

While our findings point to favorable effects of pedestrian stop interventions on place-based crime and displacement outcomes, evidence of negative individual-level effects makes it difficult to recommend the use of these tactics over alternative policing interventions. Recent systematic reviews of hot spots policing and problem-oriented policing approaches indicate a more robust evidence-base and generally larger crime reduction effects than those presented here, often without the associated backfire effects on individual health, attitudes, and behavior. Future research should examine whether police agencies can mitigate the negative effects of pedestrian stops through a focus on officer behavior during these encounters.

Objective and Subjective Neighborhood Crime Associated with Poor Sleep among Young Sexual Minority Men: a GPS Study

Sleep disparities in sexual minority male (SMM) populations have received relatively little attention but they may be critical to explaining other health disparities seen among SMM, via neural or hormonal pathways. Recent research suggests that crime may be a psychosocial stressor that contributes to sleep disparities but that finding has been based on subjective measures of crime. We conducted the P18 Neighborhood Study of 250 SMM in New York City, including 211 with adequate GPS tracking data. We used the GPS tracking data to define daily path area activity spaces and tested the associations of violent crime in those activity spaces and in the subject's residential neighborhood, perceived neighborhood safety, and witnessing crime with a subjective measure of sleep. Using quasi-Poisson regression, adjusted for individual and neighborhood socio-demographics, we found that SMM who witnessed more types of crime experienced significantly more nights of poor sleep over the course of a month (RR: 1.16, 95%CI: 1.05-1.27, p-value: < 0.01). We did not find any associations between violent crime rates in either the activity area or residential area and sleep. Our findings support the conclusion that personal exposure to crime is associated with sleep problems and provide further evidence for the pathway between stress and sleep. The lack of association between neighborhood crime levels and sleep suggests that there must be personal experience with crime and ambient presence is insufficient to produce an effect.