An Intersectional Approach to Understanding the Academic and Health Effects of Policing Among Urban Adolescents

This brief report examines whether the effects of direct and vicarious police stops on adolescents’ academic adjustment via their psychological and physical well-being differ across ethnic–racial and gender groups. Using national and longitudinal survey data from Black, Latinx, and White adolescents (N = 3004; 49% girls), we found that the police stopped more Black boys and Black girls than their ethnic–racial peers. Vicarious stops were prevalent among all groups. The effects of police stops on adolescents’ adjustment outcomes were more detrimental for adolescents of color and particularly Black boys relative to their White peers. Implications are discussed regarding how law enforcement shapes disparities that disadvantage particular adolescents at the intersections of their ethnicity–race and gender.