青少年暴露于暴力增加了持续到成年的不良心理和身体健康结果的风险。创伤压力是特别关注的结果,因为生理应激反应会影响发育中的大脑。最近,青少年接触警察暴力已被概念化为可能影响创伤压力的不良童年经历。为了检查这种可能性,我们进行了系统的审查,利用五个数据库,收集现有的定量和定性同行评审的关于青年接触警察暴力和创伤压力的研究。利用各种研究设计,搜索产生了27篇相关文章:13篇定量,十三定性,一种混合方法。27项研究中有26项发现了警察暴力暴露与青年创伤压力之间关系的证据。警察暴力与青年创伤压力相关,涉及三种类型的暴露:直接,替代,和预期。研究还探讨了种族和性别的不同影响。这篇评论揭示了目前文献中的差距,例如缺乏有关选定社会人口群体的数据(例如,农村青年,LGBTQ+青年)和潜在的保护因素(例如,韧性和学校连通性)。根据调查结果,我们提出了研究议程以及政策和实践建议,以改善警察与青年的互动,并为遭受警察暴力侵害的青年提供精神卫生服务。建议包括改进系统的数据收集,以跟踪所有类型的警察暴力暴露,为警察与青年的积极互动创造空间,并培训心理健康从业人员,以支持遭受警察暴力的年轻人。
Youth exposure to violence increases the risk of poor mental and physical health outcomes lasting into adulthood. Traumatic stress is an outcome of particular concern as the physiological stress response impacts the developing brain. Recently, youth exposure to police violence has been conceptualized as an adverse childhood experience that may impact traumatic stress. To examine this possibility, we conducted a systematic review, drawing upon five databases to gather the existing quantitative and qualitative peer-reviewed research on exposure to police violence and traumatic stress in youth. Searches yielded 27 relevant articles utilizing various study designs: thirteen quantitative, thirteen qualitative, and one mixed method. Twenty-six of the 27 studies found evidence of a relationship between police violence exposure and traumatic stress in youth. Police violence was associated with youth traumatic stress across three types of exposures: direct, vicarious, and anticipated. Studies also explored differential impacts by race and gender. The review revealed current gaps in the literature, such as a lack of data on select sociodemographic groups (e.g., rural youth, LGBTQ+ youth) and potential protective factors (e.g., resilience and school connectedness). In line with the findings, we put forth a research agenda as well as policy and practice recommendations to improve police interactions with youth and mental health services for youth who have been exposed to police violence. Recommendations include improving systematic data collection to track all types of police violence exposure, creating spaces for positive police interactions with youth, and training mental health practitioners to support youth exposed to police violence.