Parental Advice on Interacting With Police Varies Widely by Race

A Rutgers researcher documents how structural inequities determine whether children receive "The Talk" about engagement with law enforcement

The birds and the bees. Say no to drugs. Advice from parents is an expected, if cringeworthy, part of growing up.

But for some children, the odds of receiving one piece of parental wisdom known as "The Talk" - strategies for safely handling a police encounter - is heavily influenced by a child's race and gender.

A study from Rutgers University-New Brunswick quantifies just how much influence these factors play.

"The advice parents give their kids about interacting with police - hands on the wheel, no quick or furtive movements - is shaped by lived experiences," said Ashley Jackson, an assistant professor in the Rutgers School of Social Work and the lead author of the studypublished in Youth & Society. "It also changes by gender and race."

Because police disproportionately target Black youth, most research into how and when "The Talk" is given is limited to Black families. Less is known about whether "The Talk" is delivered by parents across different groups. Jackson and colleagues wanted to close this knowledge gap.

Several questions drove their research.

First, they wanted to understand how previous police contact influences receipt of "The Talk." Police contact could be direct -having been frisked, searched or handcuffed, for instance. It also could be vicarious - hearing about or witnessing direct police contact of a family member or friend.

Second, Jackson and colleagues wanted to examine a racially diverse sample to determine how odds of receiving "The Talk" differed across groups.

Data was collected from 2017 to 2019 in six school districts in St. Louis County, Missouri, where Jackson did her doctoral work. Students between the ages of 10 and 18 were surveyed at three different time periods over the course of the study. Participants were asked questions about their experience with police contact and whether their parents had spoken with them about what to do if stopped by the police. Age and demographic data were recorded.

In total, 8,842 observations were recorded for 3,589 students.

Using statistical modeling to control for other variables, the researchers determined that overall Black youth, boys and those exposed to police contact - direct or vicarious - were significantly more likely to receive "The Talk" than all other groups.

The type of contact also influenced whether a youth received "The Talk," such that Black mixed-race youth who were exposed to intrusive police contact (such as experiencing force, being searched/frisked or arrested) were more likely to have received advice on how to handle a police encounter.

Compared with Black youth, white or Latino students had 59% lower odds of having "The Talk." Native American youth had 45% lower odds, while Asian youth had 71% lower odds of receiving "The Talk" when compared with their Black peers.

When considering gender, girls had 36% lower odds than boys, the study found, although Latinas had higher odds than Latinos of engaging in this socialization practice.

The researchers also found that geography plays a role. Youth who went to school in north St. Louis County - which includes Ferguson, where 18-year-old Michael Brown was killed by police in 2014 - were more likely to have had "The Talk" than students who attended schools elsewhere.

Although Jackson's work didn't examine why some parents speak with their children about police contact and others don't, she said the results illustrate an important interplay between identity and lived experience.

"Simply put, the fact that families must have these conversations is stressful," Jackson said. "Thus, it's important for practitioners - teachers, clinicians - to be aware of the structural inequities that their clients must navigate and be thoughtful when offering their clients advice about who to turn to for help in emergent situations."

Jackson said future research will examine immigration socialization, and what "The Talk" looks like among immigrant families.

"When ICE shows up at your door, who do you call, how do you behave?" said Jackson, adding that such conversations - whether they're about police stops or immigration checks, "represent an emerging necessary tactic many families are forced to engage in."