Latent Class Profiles of Police Violence Exposure in 4 US Cities and Their Associations with Anticipation of Police Violence and Mental Health Outcomes.

While studying polyvictimization is well established within the broader violence literature and applied to other types of violence, it has yet to be documented whether polyvictimization also presents in patterns of police violence exposure (i.e., neglectful, psychological, physical, and sexual police violence). Our objective was to analyze latent patterns of co-occurring police contact and their associations with mental health. By applying latent class analysis (LCA) methods to the 2016 and 2017 Surveys of Police-Public Encounters (N = 2615), conducted in 4 Northeastern US cities, we identified classes of direct and vicarious police violence and compared sociodemographic characteristics among classes using multinomial regression. Classes were regressed on mental health outcomes. LCA identified four classes of police contact. Compared to Positive Police Contact (33.0%) class members, members of the (a) Extreme Police Violence (4.0%) class reported higher anticipation of future police victimization, psychological distress, and suicide ideations and attempts; they were more likely to be Black, cisgender men, and Latinx; (b) members of the High Police Violence (23.6%) class reported higher anticipation of future police victimization and psychological distress; they were more likely to be Black, Native American, and multiracial; members of the (c) Low Police Contact (39.5%) class had comparable mental health outcomes; they were more likely to report a household income < $19,999. Notably, no participants were unexposed to police contact. Polyvictimization presents in experiences of police violence and disproportionately impacts structurally marginalized people.

Policy Determinants of Inequitable Exposure to the Criminal Legal System and Their Health Consequences Among Young People.

Criminalizing young people, particularly Black- and Brown-identified young people, has increasingly been a feature of US rhetoric, policies, and practices. Thus, the domains in which young people are exposed to the legal system have continued to expand, encompassing their communities, schools, and homes. Importantly, public health researchers have begun exploring links between legal system exposure and health, although this literature is primarily focused at the interpersonal level and assesses associations within a single domain or in adulthood.Using critical race theory and ecosocial theory of disease distribution, we identified potential policy-level determinants of criminalization and briefly summarized the literature on downstream health outcomes among young people. Our analysis suggests that policy decisions may facilitate the targeting of structurally marginalized young people across domains.Future research should (1) position these legislative decisions as primary exposures of interest to understand their association with health among young people and inform institutional-level intervention, (2) measure the totality of exposure to the criminal legal system across domains, and (3) use theory to examine the complex ways racism operates institutionally to shape inequitable distributions of associated health outcomes.

Effects of increased minimum wages by unemployment rate on suicide in the USA.

BACKGROUND: Social welfare policies such as the minimum wage can affect population health, though the impact may differ by the level of unemployment experienced by society at a given time. METHODS: We ran difference-in-differences models using monthly data from all 50 states and Washington, DC from 1990 to 2015. We used educational attainment to define treatment and control groups. The exposure was the difference between state and federal minimum wage in US$2015, defined both by the date the state law became effective and lagged by 1 year. Models included state and year fixed effects, and additional state-level covariates to account for state-specific time-varying confounding. We assessed effect modification by the state-level unemployment rate, and estimated predicted suicide counts under different minimum wage scenarios. RESULTS: The effect of a US$1 increase in the minimum wage ranged from a 3.4% decrease (95% CI 0.4 to 6.4) to a 5.9% decrease (95% CI 1.4 to 10.2) in the suicide rate among adults aged 18-64 years with a high school education or less. We detected significant effect modification by unemployment rate, with the largest effects of minimum wage on reducing suicides observed at higher unemployment levels. CONCLUSION: Minimum wage increases appear to reduce the suicide rate among those with a high school education or less, and may reduce disparities between socioeconomic groups. Effects appear greatest during periods of high unemployment.

Role of team dynamics in the learning process: a mixed-methods evaluation of a modified team-based learning approach in a behavioral research methods course.

Health sciences education is increasingly focusing on building students' skills to work collaboratively. Therefore, instructors must intentionally incorporate team-based skill building into their courses, using teaching strategies like team-based learning (TBL). An assumption of TBL is that team dynamics facilitate learning; however, limited research has examined this connection. The primary purposes of this mixed-methods evaluation were: (a) to describe the characteristics of team dynamics in a graduate-level research methods course that employs a modified TBL approach, and (b) to examine the association between team dynamics and student grades. Given the importance of preparing health professional students to work collaboratively in their careers, a secondary aim was to examine how team skills developed through a team-based learning approach could be transferred to other courses and to future jobs. We conducted surveys on team dynamics at mid-semester (n = 64) and the end of the semester (n = 66), collected students' grades for the final paper and overall course, and conducted 4 focus groups with Master of Public Health students (n = 25). Paired t tests were used to examine change in team dynamics and correlations were conducted to assess the relationship between team dynamics and grades. Thematic analysis was used to identify themes related to team dynamics from the focus group data. Overall, students reported experiencing positive and beneficial team dynamics. The findings support two main underlying categories of team dynamics, interpersonal team processes and task orientation, and the linkages between the categories that allow teams to function. Team dynamics scores were not associated with student grades. However, students recognized the value of practicing team skills in preparation for future group work and jobs. These findings suggest that active learning approaches, such as TBL, can help to facilitate the acquisition of collaborative skills.