Effects of Childhood Police Contact on Adolescent Suicidality: A Propensity Score Matched Analysis

Youth suicide is increasingly prevalent, is a leading cause of death, and its public health burden is acute. Juvenile Legal System (JLS) involvement is an established correlate of suicidality; however, it is unclear how JLS involvement is nomologically associated with suicidality. Adolescents are situated within ecological contexts (i.e., family, schools, neighborhoods) that likely interact to modify the association of JLS involvement and suicidality. To improve predictive models, rigorous prosecution of this relationship must disentangle related risk/protective factors (i.e., sex/gender, race-ethnicity, discrimination, trauma, familism). Based on 2426 adolescents enrolled in a substudy of the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development Study (ABCD), we utilized propensity score matching to test the association of police contact at 10-13 years-old with suicidal outcomes (i.e., self-harm, suicidal ideation, suicide attempt) two years later, covarying for age, education, race-ethnicity, sex/gender, discrimination, adverse childhood events (ACEs), and familism. After adjusting for numerous demographic, experiential, and family-level correlates, police contact did not significantly predict suicidal outcomes two years later. Baseline ACEs positively predicted self-harm and suicidal ideation two years later. Lower familism predicted self-harm, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts two years later. With inclusion of important risk and protective factors, JLS involvement did not uniquely predict suicidality. Factors closely related to JLS involvement (i.e., ACEs, familism) incremented risk. To address the increasing prevalence of suicidality and the disproportionate impact of suicide on JLS-impacted youth, it is critical to investigate individual and systemic factors, and how they interact, to increase risk for suicidality.