Patterns of Vicarious Police Contact and Youths’ Stress and Attitudes About the Police

Youth of color residing in urban areas face elevated risks of vicarious police contact which can intensify feelings of fear, anger, and cynicism toward law enforcement. However, little is known as to how vicarious police stops are patterned across youths’ social circles and how these diverse vicarious exposures shape youths’ attitudes toward and stress about police. The current study analyzed data from the Survey of Police-Adolescent Contact Experiences, a cross-sectional survey of Black youth aged 12–21 in Baltimore City, Maryland (n = 345). Youth self-reported whether they knew anyone who has been stopped by police and selected their relation to who was stopped. They also reported how often they, themselves, engaged in efforts to avoid police, how stressed they were about police violence in their community, and their attitudes of policy legitimacy. The study used descriptive statistics, OLS regression, and ancillary attenuation analyses using the Karlson-Holm-Breen method. Results showed that over 50% of youth knew someone stopped by police, with 12% reporting four or more known persons. Analyses indicated that knowing more individuals stopped by police was associated with increased avoidance and stress while being linked to decreased perceptions of police legitimacy – findings particularly salient for those with four or more known persons stopped by police. Additionally, knowing a friend stopped by police significantly increased both police avoidance and stress levels. These findings underscore the importance of understanding vicarious police contact patterns within youths’ social circles and their implications for stress and attitudes about the police, emphasizing the need to foster positive police-youth relationships and address stress-related outcomes.