Exploring Police-Initiated Post-Traumatic Stress Symptomatology, Depression, and Anxiety Using Factor Analysis

Purpose: Research suggests that police encounters can be a traumatic experience for youth. These experiences may result in trauma symptomatology and co-occurring mental health issues like depression and anxiety. However, studies exploring the relationships between trauma symptomatology, depression and anxiety do not typically focus on trauma that is rooted in experiences with the police. The present study utilizes exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis to examine the relationships among police-initiated post-traumatic stress symptoms, depression and anxiety. Method: Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis examines the factor structure of police-initiated post-traumatic stress symptoms, depression and anxiety. Results: Results suggest that police-initiated post-traumatic stress symptomatology is two factors that are distinguishable from anxiety and depression. Discussion: Our findings highlight the need to develop methods of disentangling the relationships between police-initiated post-traumatic stress symptomatology and co-occurring mental health symptoms, and advocating for policies and practices that can reduce negative police-youth interactions.