The Policing Paradox: Police Stops Predict Youth’s School Disengagement Via Elevated Psychological Distress

Negative interactions with the legal system can inform adolescents’ relationships with schools. The present daily-diary study examined 13,545 daily survey assessments from 387 adolescents (M_age = 13–14; 40% male; 32% Black, 50% White, and 18% Other ethnic-racial minority) across 35 days to assess whether police stops predicted adolescents’ school disengagement through their psychological distress as a mediator. Results showed that 9% of youth experienced at least one police stop, and 66 stops occurred in total over the 35-day study course. Youth stopped by the police reported greater nextday school disengagement, and youth’s psychological distress mediated the link between police stops and school disengagement. Disengagement did not predict youth’s next-day police stops. In addition, ethnic-racial minority youth reported more negative police encounters than did White youth, and the effect of a police stop on next-day psychological distress was more negative for Other ethnic-racial minority youth. Implications for reducing police intervention in adolescents’ lives are discussed.