J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2026 Sep 5. doi: 10.1007/s40615-026-03084-x. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: School policing has expanded dramatically in U.S. public schools, yet its mental health consequences among Hispanic adolescents remain understudied. Although a growing body of scholarship examines the educational and social outcomes of school policing for Latine youth, few studies have isolated the association between specific policing exposures and depressive symptoms in this population.
PURPOSE: This study examined the association between school policing experiences, school discipline, and depressive symptoms among 15-year-old Hispanic youth, testing whether the distinction between police presence and direct police contact differentially predicts depressive symptomology.
METHODS: Using data from the Year 15 wave of the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS; N = 813 Hispanic youth, 51.8% male; data collected 2014-2017), ordinary least squares regression estimated the association between five school policing and discipline indicators and a summed five-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D 5) score (α = .778). Three model specifications were estimated: unadjusted, adjusted for demographics and prior mental health, and a sensitivity analysis additionally adjusting for school connectedness.
RESULTS: Being stopped by police at school was associated with 2.29 additional depressive symptom points (p < .001) after covariate adjustment-a substantively meaningful increase on a 0-15 scale. Witnessing others stopped by police was also significantly associated with higher depressive symptoms (β = 0.58, p = .007). Ambient police presence (officers stationed, security guards stationed) and school discipline showed no significant associations. Sensitivity analyses additionally adjusting for school connectedness attenuated but did not eliminate significant associations for police contact (stopped: β = 1.65, p < .001; witnessed: β = 0.45, p = .026).
CONCLUSIONS: Direct police contact-both personal and vicarious-rather than ambient surveillance, appears to be the critical exposure pathway linking school policing to depressive symptoms among Hispanic adolescents. Findings support conceptualizing school police contact as a racial health stressor and underscore the need to incorporate policing exposures into adolescent health disparities frameworks.
PMID:42701142 | DOI:10.1007/s40615-026-03084-x
