School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Arizona State University.
Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego.
Law Hum Behav. 2021 Jun;45(3):243-255. doi: 10.1037/lhb0000445.
Although researchers, policymakers, and practitioners recognize the importance of the public's perceptions of police, few studies have examined developmental trends in adolescents and young adults' views of police.
Hypothesis 1: Perceptions of police legitimacy would exhibit a U-shaped curve, declining in adolescence before improving in young adulthood. Hypothesis 2: At all ages, Black youth would report more negative perceptions of police legitimacy than Latino youth, who would report more negative perceptions than White youth. Hypothesis 3: Perceptions of police bias would be consistently associated with worse perceptions of police legitimacy.
Utilizing longitudinal data from the Crossroads Study, this study examined within-person trends in males' perceptions of police legitimacy from ages 13 to 22, as well as whether perceptions of police bias were associated with perceptions of police legitimacy.
Perceptions of police legitimacy followed a U-shaped curve that declined during adolescence, reached its lowest point around age 18, and improved during the transition to young adulthood. Compared with White youth, Latino and Black youth had shallower curves in perceptions of police legitimacy that exhibited less improvement during the transition to adulthood. Further, perceptions of police bias were consistently associated with more negative perceptions of police legitimacy across races and ages.
While perceptions of police legitimacy may decline during adolescence before improving during the transition to adulthood, perceptions of police bias are consistently negatively related to youth and young adults' perceptions of police legitimacy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
尽管研究人员、政策制定者和实践者认识到公众对警察的看法很重要，但很少有研究考察青少年和年轻人对警察看法的发展趋势。
假设 1：对警察合法性的看法将呈 U 型曲线，在青春期下降，然后在年轻成人期改善。假设 2：在所有年龄段，黑人青年对警察合法性的看法比拉丁裔青年更为负面，而拉丁裔青年对警察合法性的看法又比白人青年更为负面。假设 3：对警察偏见的看法将始终与对警察合法性的负面看法相关。
本研究利用 Crossroads 研究的纵向数据，考察了男性从 13 岁到 22 岁对警察合法性的看法的个体内趋势，以及对警察偏见的看法是否与对警察合法性的看法有关。
对警察合法性的看法呈 U 型曲线，在青春期下降，在 18 岁左右达到最低点，然后在向年轻成人期过渡时有所改善。与白人青年相比，拉丁裔和黑人青年对警察合法性的看法曲线较浅，在向成年期过渡时改善较少。此外，对警察偏见的看法与种族和年龄无关，始终与对警察合法性的负面看法有关。
虽然对警察合法性的看法可能在青春期下降，然后在向成年期过渡时改善，但对警察偏见的看法始终与青年和年轻人对警察合法性的看法呈负相关。（PsycInfo 数据库记录（c）2021 APA，保留所有权利）。
