Unfair Police Treatment of Black Residents and Depressive Symptoms in Nashville, TN

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Abstract

Policing is an important social institution but racial minorities often report unfair or discriminatory treatment from officers. This paper examines the effect of police discrimination on depressive symptoms for a sample of black residents of Nashville, TN. Additionally, if family members are treated unfairly by police there may be a spillover effect, especially for midlife women. Following the life course perspective, interactions of police mistreatment of the respondent and family members is assessed in combination with gender and age. The results show that police discrimination is commonly reported by both black men and women. Unfair treatment is associated with increased depressive symptoms. Interactions show that this effect is particularly pronounced for midlife and older black men. Having a family member mistreated does not have main effects on mental health; however, midlife and older individuals do report greater depressive symptoms when a family member was mistreated. The results show that police misconduct not only is common but undermines mental health among black residents of Nashville. Furthermore, there is a spillover effect where family members of midlife and older individuals are negatively affected by their family members being mistreated. Given that police have an important role in the social structure, these findings support the idea that racialized social organization leads to poor mental health outcomes among black individuals in the United States.

Author

• Peter Vielehr, Vanderbilt University