Police Contacts Among Latino and African American Youths

This study assessed the correlates of self-control and police contact in a sample of Chicago public high school students. The investigation examined the effects of parental attachment/identification, family structure, and peer association on self-control and the effects of parental attachment/identification, family structure, peer association, and self-control on police contact. Differences between African American and Latino youth on the predictors of the two dependent measures were tested in separate regression models. Weak parental attachment/identification and gang affiliation (peer association) predicted low self-control among all students. Among African American youth, only weak maternal attachment/identification predicted low self-control; both weak maternal attachment/identification and gang affiliation predicted low self-control among Latino youth. Gang affiliation predicted police stops (delinquency) among African Americans but not among Latinos. However, both African American at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on May 17, 2016ijo.sagepub.comDownloaded from Flexon et al. 21