• Devin English, Lisa Bowleg, Ana Maria Del Río-González, Jeanne M Tschann, Robert P Agans, and David J Malebranche.
• Department of Psychology, The George Washington University.
• Cultur Divers Ethnic Minor Psychol. 2017 Apr 1; 23 (2): 185-199.

ObjectivesAlthough social science research has examined police and law enforcement-perpetrated discrimination against Black men using policing statistics and implicit bias studies, there is little quantitative evidence detailing this phenomenon from the perspective of Black men. Consequently, there is a dearth of research detailing how Black men's perspectives on police and law enforcement-related stress predict negative physiological and psychological health outcomes. This study addresses these gaps with the qualitative development and quantitative test of the Police and Law Enforcement (PLE) Scale.MethodIn Study 1, we used thematic analysis on transcripts of individual qualitative interviews with 90 Black men to assess key themes and concepts and develop quantitative items. In Study 2, we used 2 focus groups comprised of 5 Black men each (n = 10), intensive cognitive interviewing with a separate sample of Black men (n = 15), and piloting with another sample of Black men (n = 13) to assess the ecological validity of the quantitative items. For Study 3, we analyzed data from a sample of 633 Black men between the ages of 18 and 65 to test the factor structure of the PLE, as we all as its concurrent validity and convergent/discriminant validity.ResultsQualitative analyses and confirmatory factor analyses suggested that a 5-item, 1-factor measure appropriately represented respondents' experiences of police/law enforcement discrimination. As hypothesized, the PLE was positively associated with measures of racial discrimination and depressive symptoms.ConclusionsPreliminary evidence suggests that the PLE is a reliable and valid measure of Black men's experiences of discrimination with police/law enforcement. (PsycINFO Database Record(c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

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