Police in the rearview mirror: Social marginalization, trauma, and fear of being killed.

Abstract

An online sample of 528 people was asked to respond to a hypothetical scenario: If a police car came up right behind you with its lights flashing, how much would you worry that you would be killed? Participants also reported on whether they experienced aggressive behavior by police in the past (provoked or otherwise) and, if so, completed a measure of associated posttraumatic stress. At least some fear of being killed by police (FKP) in the rearview mirror scenario was reported by the majority (56%) of Black participants, 39% of those self-describing as “other or mixed” race, and 31% of Hispanic participants, as compared to 26% of those of Asian descent and 19% of those identifying as White. When the highest level of FKP was considered, Black participants were 12 times more likely than White participants to report “extreme” fear of death at the hands of police. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and more participants were also more likely than cisgender/heterosexual respondents to report both FKP (35% vs. 20%) and “extreme” FKP (8% vs. 3%). FKP was also more prevalent among those self-reporting unprovoked police aggression in the past and those for whom police aggression had led to posttraumatic stress disorder.

Social maltreatment as trauma: Posttraumatic correlates of a new measure of exposure to sexism, racism, and cisheterosexism.

“…The finding that SDM endorsement was more related to PTS than trauma exposure was somewhat unexpected. One major possibility is that ongoing social maltreatment, such as repeated slurs, verbal attacks, and threats, can engender fears of injury or death among minoritized people (e.g., Briere & Runtz, 2023) and potentially trigger memories of past SDM-related maltreatment. In cultures where institutionalized aggression against marginalized communities is relatively common, repeated experiences of SDM may lead to a chronically traumatizing environment (and elevated PTS scores) for many marginalized individuals.…”

“…When combined with those identifying as transgender ( n = 17, 3.2%), 190 participants (36.0%) were categorized as LGBTQ+. This sample was also used in a study of police aggression against marginalized people (Briere & Runtz, 2023), using different variables except for demographics.…”

Child and Adolescent Exposure to Sexual Harassment: Relationship to Gender, Contact Sexual Abuse, and Adult Psychological Symptoms

“…A total of 338 participants (64.3%) described themselves as heterosexual, 43 (8.1%) as gay or lesbian, 102 (19.3%) as bisexual, 20 (3.8%) as asexual or no orientation, and 21 (4.0%) as “other” orientation. This sample was also used in a recent study of police aggression against marginalized people ( Briere & Runtz, 2024 ), using different variables beyond demographics.…”