Elevated Prevalence of Suicide Attempts among Victims of Police Violence in the USA

Abstract

Recent evidence suggests that police victimization is widespread in the USA and psychologically impactful. We hypothesized that civilian-reported police victimization, particularly assaultive victimization (i.e., physical/sexual), would be associated with a greater prevalence of suicide attempts and suicidal ideation. Data were drawn from the Survey of Police-Public Encounters, a population-based survey of adults (N = 1615) residing in four US cities. Surveys assessed lifetime exposure to police victimization based on the World Health Organization domains of violence (i.e., physical, sexual, psychological, and neglect), using the Police Practices Inventory. Logistic regression models tested for associations between police victimization and (1) past 12-month suicide attempts and (2) past 12-month suicidal ideation, adjusted for demographic factors (i.e., gender, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, income), crime involvement, past intimate partner and sexual victimization exposure, and lifetime mental illness. Police victimization was associated with suicide attempts but not suicidal ideation in adjusted analyses. Specifically, odds of attempts were greatly increased for respondents reporting assaultive forms of victimization, including physical victimization (odds ratio = 4.5), physical victimization with a weapon (odds ratio = 10.7), and sexual victimization (odds ratio = 10.2). Assessing for police victimization and other violence exposures may be a useful component of suicide risk screening in urban US settings. Further, community-based efforts should be made to reduce the prevalence of exposure to police victimization.

Race and the Association Between Police Stops and Depression Among Young Adults: A Research Note

“…We also have no information on the nature of the encounter-whether, for instance, it involved the use of force or whether the person was treated fairly. Recent work has documented that perceived fairness and violence are mechanisms by which policing can affect health (DeVylder et al, 2017;Geller et al, 2014). In addition, concentrated police stops, especially in disadvantaged Black communities, likely increase feelings of powerlessness, strain the relationship between police and the public, and diminish perceptions of gains made by the civil rights movement-all of which can help explain why being stopped by police is related to poor mental health (Alang et al, 2017).…”

“…While there is some variation with regard to outcomes and patterns of association in prior research, police stops have been linked to worse health at both the individual and the aggregate level. A comprehensive survey of adults in Baltimore, New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC, found that virtually all forms of police violence-psychological, physical, sexual, and neglectful treatment-were related to psychological distress and depression (DeVylder et al, 2017). Two studies based in New York City have documented similar results.…”

Psychotic Experiences in the Context of Police Victimization: Data From the Survey of Police–Public Encounters

“…22 We recently showed in the Survey of Police-Public Encounters that police-initiated violence is widely reported across 4 US cities, and that it is associated with both psychological distress and depression, 23 as well as more severe mental health outcomes including suicide attempts. 24 Given that the prevalence of police violence in US cities appears to be comparable to other potential social defeat exposures and has known associations with mental health outcomes, it is reasonable to hypothesize that it may likewise be correlated with PEs in the general population.…”

Letter to the Editor: Cumulative trauma as a potential explanation for the elevated risk of suicide associated with psychotic experiences: commentary on Moriyama et al. ‘The association between psychotic experiences and traumatic life events’

“…The specificity of trauma with intent to harm as a risk factor for psychosis bears resemblance to findings from the suicide literature, which have linked suicidal behavior to specifically assaultive violence, across a broad range of study populations and types of violence exposures (Wilcox et al 2009;Nrugham et al 2010;Coid et al 2013;DeVylder et al 2017). This is notable given the amassing evidence over the past several years that psychotic experiences are robust indicators of risk for suicidal behavior in both cross-sectional and longitudinal epidemiological data, including suicidal ideation, attempts, and death by suicide (Sharifi et al 2015;Honings et al 2016).…”