Police Contact, Sleep, and Mental Health in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study

Abstract

Using data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study (n = 3928), we examined how police contact relates to sleep problems, anxiety, and depressive symptoms during middle adolescence (M age = 14.09; SD = 0.68). Consistent with racialized disparities in the presence of police in schools and communities, descriptive data revealed that Black children, particularly boys, reported more positive and negative contact with police than other children. Results of regression analyses that adjusted for potential selection factors further revealed that negative interactions with police were associated with increased risk for sleep disturbances and/or internalizing symptoms among White boys, Black girls, and Hispanic youth. Contact with police was not, however, associated with outcomes assessed here for White girls or Black boys, findings that likely reflect fundamentally different lived experiences with police, gendered racial socialization processes, and access to social support that warrant continued investigation in future research.