Police contact and self-rated health among LGBTQ and non-LGBTQ people

To examine the relationship between police contact and self-rated health of U.S. LGBTQ and non-LGBTQ people.

Data were derived from an original nationally representative survey of both LGBTQ (N = 798) and non-LGBTQ (N = 652) adults fielded as part of the Policing the Rainbow study in August 2022. Multivariate linear regression models were used to test the study's hypotheses.

Predicted self-rated general health scores were lower for all respondents who had police contact compared to those who did not. This was true of both LGBTQ and non-LGBTQ respondents, with some forms of police contact decreasing self-rated health more among LGBTQ people and some decreasing self-rated health more among non-LGBTQ people.

Public health scholarship on LGBTQ people should consider criminal legal system contact as a social determinant of health outcomes and incorporate such insights into minority stress models.