Title
Police Harassment and Latinx Mental Health: The Moderating Role of Family Support and Nativity
Date of Award
Spring 2023
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Torres, Lucas
Second Advisor
Gordon, Nakia S.
Third Advisor
D'Anna-Hernandez, Kimberly
Abstract
Relative to their population size, communities of color experience disproportionate occurrences of harassment (Wilson et. al., 2020). Reports on police killings from 2013 to 2018 display that Black individuals constituted 27.5% of those killed, despite making up only 13% of the population (Siegel, 2020). The U.S. Latinx population is similarly impacted, given reports that they also experience police targeting (Edwards et. al., 2019; Gaston et. al., 2021; Harris et. al., 2020; Zimmerman et. al., 2021). Empirical evidence has shown a positive association between police harassment exposure and depressive and posttraumatic stress symptoms in Latinx populations (Chin et. al., 2020; Del Toro et. al., 2019; Geller et. al., 2014; Tynes et. al., 2019). Previous research has found ascription to family support as a Latinx cultural value to mitigate depression symptoms and buffer negative outcomes of trauma exposure (Chavez-Korell et. al., 2014; Dixon De Silva et. al., 2020; Lorenzo-Blanco et. al., 2012; Perreira & Ornelas, 2013; Taylor et. al., 2022; Villareal et. al., 2019). With that said, nativity status may contribute to feelings of intragroup marginalization (Mata-Greve &Torres, 2019), which may influence ascription to family support. The present study sought to examine the association between police harassment and Latinx mental health, and whether nativity status and family support influence this relationship.This study included 535 Latinx students recruited from a predominantly White, Midwestern university. Participants completed self-report questionnaire measures examining police harassment, family support, and depression and posttraumatic stress symptoms. The PROCESS macro was utilized to conduct moderation analyses. Statistically significant, positive relationships were found between police harassment and depression and trauma symptoms. Ascription to family support as a cultural value did not moderate the relationship between police harassment and depression symptoms, nor posttraumatic stress symptoms. Police harassment significantly predicted depression symptoms, but not posttraumatic stress symptoms. Mean family support for U.S.-born Latinx individuals was significantly lower than the mean for foreign-born Latinx individuals. Nativity did not moderate family support as a protect factor in the relationship between police harassment and depression symptoms, nor in the relationship between police harassment and posttraumatic stress symptoms.