OBJECTIVE Although researchers, policymakers, and practitioners recognize the importance of the public's perceptions of police, few studies have examined developmental trends in adolescents and young adults' views of police. HYPOTHESES Hypothesis 1: Perceptions of police legitimacy would exhibit a U-shaped curve, declining in adolescence before improving in young adulthood. Hypothesis 2: At all ages, Black youth would report more negative perceptions of police legitimacy than Latino youth, who would report more negative perceptions than White youth. Hypothesis 3: Perceptions of police bias would be consistently associated with worse perceptions of police legitimacy. METHOD Utilizing longitudinal data from the Crossroads Study, this study examined within-person trends in males' perceptions of police legitimacy from ages 13 to 22, as well as whether perceptions of police bias were associated with perceptions of police legitimacy. RESULTS Perceptions of police legitimacy followed a U-shaped curve that declined during adolescence, reached its lowest point around age 18, and improved during the transition to young adulthood. Compared with White youth, Latino and Black youth had shallower curves in perceptions of police legitimacy that exhibited less improvement during the transition to adulthood. Further, perceptions of police bias were consistently associated with more negative perceptions of police legitimacy across races and ages. CONCLUSIONS While perceptions of police legitimacy may decline during adolescence before improving during the transition to adulthood, perceptions of police bias are consistently negatively related to youth and young adults' perceptions of police legitimacy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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13 至 22 岁参与正义的黑人、拉丁裔和白人男性对警察合法性和偏见的看法。


目标 尽管研究人员、政策制定者和从业人员认识到公众对警察看法的重要性，但很少有研究探讨青少年和年轻人对警察看法的发展趋势。假设 假设 1：对警察合法性的看法会呈现出 U 形曲线，在青春期下降，然后在成年早期提高。假设2：在所有年龄段，黑人青年对警察合法性的负面看法比拉丁裔青年更多，拉丁裔青年比白人青年更负面。假设 3：对警察偏见的看法始终与对警察合法性的较差看法相关。方法 利用十字路口研究的纵向数据，本研究调查了 13 至 22 岁男性对警察合法性看法的个人趋势，以及对警察偏见的看法是否与对警察合法性的看法相关。结果 对警察合法性的看法呈 U 形曲线，在青春期下降，在 18 岁左右达到最低点，并在向青年期过渡期间有所改善。与白人青年相比，拉丁裔和黑人青年对警察合法性的看法曲线较浅，在向成年过渡期间表现出的改善较小。此外，不同种族和年龄的人对警察偏见的看法始终与对警察合法性的负面看法相关。结论 虽然对警察合法性的看法可能会在青春期下降，然后在向成年过渡期间有所改善，但对警察偏见的看法始终与青少年和年轻人对警察合法性的看法呈负相关。 （PsycInfo 数据库记录 (c) 2021 APA，保留所有权利）。