Discomfort with Asking the Police for Help: Patterns among 8 <sup>th</sup> Grade Youth Across Sexual, Gender, and Racial Identities and History of Suicidality
Youth experiencing a suicidal crisis may interface with public services like police. The current analysis examined how intersecting social identities (gender, sexual, and racial/ethnic identities) and history of suicidality were associated with discomfort asking the police for help, using a decision tree approach. The sample included 8<sup>th</sup> grade students (N=36,513) who participated in the 2022 Minnesota Student Survey. 32.4% of students reported discomfort with asking the police for help. Youth with multiple marginalized identities who have experienced suicidal ideation and suicide attempt had the greatest discomfort with asking the police for help. Non-police models for crisis response teams are indicated.
Authors
- Ka I Ip (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7543-3669)
- Marla E. Eisenberg (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7730-4913)
- Hana‐May Eadeh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4916-0828)
- Benjamin Parchem (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4800-1884)
- G. Nic Rider (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6730-5613)
- Shari Brightly-Brown (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-4153-5331)
- Mi’Chael N. Wright (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-3911-6477)
- J. J. Koechell
- Stephanie Konadu-Acheampong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-1404-7604)
Institutions
- Northwestern University (US)
- Lurie Children's Hospital (US)
- University of Minnesota (US)
- Minnesota Department of Education (US)
- Adolescent Health Clinic (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Child & Youth Services
- Published
- 2025-04-24
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1080/0145935x.2025.2484637
- Primary Topic
- Education Discipline and Inequality
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto