POLICE violence against Black Americans is shamefully common in the United States and devastates communities. For incidents that get widespread media exposure, a collective trauma is felt across the nation, especially for Black individuals.
Research supports that experiencing racism even vicariously can harm the mental and physical health of others of the same racial group, yet its effect on a population level is unclear.
A new study analyzed how highly publicized acts of racial violence impacted the mental health of Black Americans in the U.S. The authors identified 49 incidents that occurred between 2013 and 2017, including police killings of Black individuals, hate-crime murders and decisions not to indict or convict the officers involved.
The researchers measured national interest based on the volume of related Google searches, and calculated average mental distress per week using two sources, spanning 2012-2017: the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) and news-related Google searches
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