About this poster

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Panel information
Panel 8. Social Intergroup Processes

Abstract

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Researchers have pointed to perceived racism and racial discrimination as contributors to health inequities and a wide range of negative health outcomes for both adults and children (Williams & Mohammed, 2009). Police interactions with Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) continue to make news waves due to discriminatory actions by officers (Kahn et al., 2017). The current study aims to develop an understanding on how BIPOC beliefs about discrimination impact their interactions with interpersonal domains. In particular, we are interested in BIPOC participants' perception of institutional forms (police interaction) of discrimination and its relation to mental and physical health. Three questions guided this study. The first research question examines whether there are racial and ethnic differences in the perception of differential treatment by race in police interaction. The second research question expands the first question to precisely identify the racial and ethnic groups who perceive unequal treatment with police interaction concerning discrimination. Lastly, is there a significant relationship between the perception of discrimination by police interaction and physical and mental health outcomes?

The current study is based on data from the National Public Radio, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health study. The survey was conducted in 2017 from January to April among a nationally representative, probability-based telephone sample of 3,453 emerging adults aged 18 or older. The majority of the sample identified as women. The survey includes a nationally representative adult sample of African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Whites. For this particular study, we primarily utilized the whole sample of 802 African Americans, 803 Latino individuals, 500 Asian Americans, 342 Native Americans, and 902 white Americans. Survey questionnaires assessed experiences of institutional and interpersonal discrimination.

A crosstabs analysis was conducted to examine whether there were significant racial/ethnic differences on reports of discrimination. Analyses indicated significant differences in the personal perception of differential treatment by race regarding police interaction. Specifically, Black non-Hispanic individuals reported that they believe they experienced personal discrimination when interacting with police officers due to their race comparative to ethnic minority counterparts. To address the second question, ANOVAs were conducted to explore racial/ethnic differences in relation to discrimination by police. Findings suggest that there were significant group differences in experiencing discrimination when interacting with police by race [F (5, 950) = 23.71, p <.001]. In particular, post-hoc analyses suggest that Black non-Hispanic individuals reported they believed individuals from their own race experienced more discrimination interacting with police comparative to Hispanic, Native American, and Asian American populations. Additionally, there were significant group differences in personal experiences of discrimination because of participants’ race when interacting with police [F (5, 950) = 8.62, p <.001]. Post-hoc analyses suggested similar findings in that Black non-Hispanic Americans reported that they experienced more discrimination by police due to their racial group. Lastly, we explored how race-related discrimination from police could impact physical or mental health outcomes. Hierarchical regressions were conducted, focusing primarily on the Black sample and controlling for gender. We found that there was a significant association between perceptions of Black individuals experiencing discrimination when interacting with police and physical health outcomes (B=0.08; SE=0.04, p<.05), suggesting that discrimination experiences are deleterious to physical health.

These findings indicate that physical health is negatively impacted by perceptions of discrimination due to police interactions. Implications of these findings will be discussed in how community-wide interventions are needed with regard to police and community interactions.

Author information

Author	Role
Nana Ama Boateng; Julie Nguyen, University of South Carolina	Presenting author
Hanna Smyles, University of South Carolina , United States	Non-presenting author
Ryan Houston-Dial , University of South Carolina, United States	Non-presenting author
Meeta Banerjee, University of South Carolina, United States	Non-presenting author

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