Citation

Marotta P. Police Q. 2015; 18(4): 414-441.

Affiliation

School of Social Work, Columbia University, NY, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1098611115589291

PMID

30906188

PMCID

PMC6428428

Abstract

An overwhelming body of literature points to a relationship between experiencing adversity during childhood and later violence in adulthood. This study addresses a gap in existing research by testing of the impact of four prior childhood adversities on resistant behaviors toward law enforcement officers. A four-level ordinal dependent variable measuring passive resistance, verbal resistance, police action resistance, and physical resistance was created using data from the nationally representative, 2004 Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities. A generalized ordinal logistic regression model tested the effects of childhood adversities on resistant behaviors toward law enforcement officers. Physical victimization during childhood and adulthood predicted resistant behaviors toward law enforcement officers above and beyond the effects of prior victimization during only childhood and only adulthood. This study found a strong association between prior physical victimization, foster care involvement, and resistant behaviors after adjusting for demographic, situational, and criminal background variables.

Language: en

Keywords

child abuse and neglect; childhood adversity; law enforcement officers; resistance; victimization; victim–offender overlap; violence