Do Police Officers Give Teenagers Stress? The Impact of Police Interaction on Teenage Body Mass Index Open Access

Mueller, Sarah (Spring 2022)

Permanent URL: https://etd.library.emory.edu/concern/etds/6m311q60v?locale=en
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Abstract

Police violence has become an increasingly more visible issue in the last decade. This study seeks to examine the relationship between lived and vicarious police interaction and teenage weight status. This was done using data collected from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. This research found that there was no relationship between direct interactions and an overweight/obese weight status, (PR 0.89 (95%CI 0.78, 1.02).  The results for vicarious interactions were mixed. Reporting seeing someone being stopped in their school was not associated with prevalence of overweight (PR 0.98 (95%CI 0.85 ,1.13). The vicarious variable that did have a very slight association was knowing anyone who had an interaction with police which had a prevalence ratio of 1.05 (95% CI 0.92, 1.20). While there was no association between direct interactions with police officers and overweight and obese status, there were mixed findings with vicarious interactions depending on the context of that the interaction. This  research highlights the need for further research on impact of police officers on teenagers, and the need for further research about the impact of police officers’ impact on the mental health and physical of society.

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