Abstract：
Youth-police contact is increasingly acknowledged as a stressor and a racialized adverse childhood experience that can undermine youths\' mental health. The present study investigates a particularly distressing feature of youths\' direct and witnessed in-person police stops-officer gunpoint (i.e., officers drawing of firearms and pointing them at youth, their peers, or other community members). We examine patterns of youths\' officer gunpoint exposure and associations with youth mental health and safety perceptions. 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 = 335), administered from August 2022 to July 2023. Findings indicate that ~33% of youth reporting in-person police stops had been exposed to officer gunpoint during stops. Officer gunpoint was significantly and positively associated with being male, unemployed, having an incarcerated parent, living in a neighborhood with greater disorder, and having been directly stopped by police, in addition to youth delinquency and impulsivity. Net of covariates, experiencing officer gunpoint was associated with a significantly higher rate of youth emotional distress during stops. Significant associations between officer gunpoint and youths\' current police violence stress, police avoidance, and diminished safety perceptions also emerged and were largely explained by youths\' heightened emotional distress at the time of police stops. Trauma-informed approaches are needed to mitigate the mental health harms of youth experiencing officer gunpoint.
摘要：
青年与警察的接触越来越被认为是一种压力源和一种种族化的不良童年经历，可能会破坏青年的心理健康。本研究调查了年轻人的一个特别令人痛苦的特征，即直接和目击的当面警察拦截人员枪口(即，警察用枪械指着年轻人，他们的同龄人，或其他社区成员)。我们研究了青年军官枪口暴露的模式以及与青年心理健康和安全观念的联系。数据来自警察-青少年接触经历调查(SPACE)，对巴尔的摩12-21岁黑人青年社区样本的横断面调查，马里兰州（n=335），从2022年8月到2023年7月管理。调查结果表明，约有33％的年轻人报告了现场警察在停车期间受到警察枪口的伤害。军官枪口与男性显著正相关，失业,有一个被监禁的父母，生活在一个更混乱的社区，被警察直接拦下，除了青少年犯罪和冲动。协变量净值，在停站期间，经历军官枪口与青年情绪困扰的比率明显更高。军官枪口和年轻人之间的重要关联当前警察的暴力压力，警察回避,人们对安全的看法也有所下降，这在很大程度上是由年轻人在警察停车时情绪困扰加剧来解释的。需要采取创伤知情的方法来减轻遭受军官枪口的年轻人的心理健康危害。
