The impact of early racial discrimination on illegal behavior, arrest, and incarceration among African Americans.

ABSTRACT: The prospective relations between perceived racial discrimination (PRD), assessed at 4 different time periods from childhood through adolescence, along with assessments of PRD from the police ("hassling"), and self-reports of arrest and incarceration at a mean age of 24.5 years, were examined in a sample of 889 African Americans from the Family and Community Health Study. Multiple covariates were included in the analyses (e.g., academic orientation, socioeconomic status, self-control). Structural equation modeling revealed relations between PRD, especially that assessed in childhood, and both arrest and incarceration reported in adulthood. Mediators of these relations included deviant affiliation and self-reports of both substance use and illegal behavior. PRD from the police directly pred

SUBMITTER: Gibbons FX 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7162705 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature