Police Contact and Adolescents’ Attitudes Towards the Police: Is the “Social Identity Mediation Hypothesis” Observed in Different Contexts?

People are most likely to come into contact with the police for the first time as teenagers. Numerous studies have shown that these contacts impact adolescents’ attitudes towards the police. The Group Engagement Model (GEM) proposes that contact with the police matters because our perception of this interaction conveys information about our place in the group. However, few researchers have sought to discern the role played by the type of contact. Three hundred one youths completed an online survey. The current article explores the relationship between the presence of different types of contact with the police (i.e., asking for information, being a witness, victim, or offender) and attitudes towards law enforcement. We also test whether satisfaction with contact is linked to attitudes. We examine whether these relationships are mediated by sense of belonging to society. The results suggest that only presence of police contact as offender and satisfaction with police contact to request information and for witnessing a crime are linked to attitudes towards the police. Sense of belonging to society partially mediated some links, but not satisfaction of contact for reporting victimization or for offending. The study which follows highlights the importance of distinguishing between the types of contact that youth have had with the police.