About the Presentation

Although research demonstrates that there are seasonal periods when people might be exposed to more than one police killing at a time that is associated with negative changes in health, less is known about the multiplicative health impacts of these exposures on the self-reported stress and sleep of Black men and women. This study analyses cross-sectional survey data from 2021 to examine how increasing levels of knowledge about the murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd are independently and conjointly associated with negative changes in self-reported stress and sleep experienced from March 2020 - March 2021 among a sample of Black adults. Results from independent models with our full sample yield distinct results from gender-stratified interactive models, pointing to the importance of measuring the interactive knowledge of specific fatal police encounters as a proxy for vicarious exposure and determinant of health.

About the Speaker

Demar F. Lewis IV is an Assistant Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Maryland and a Faculty Associate of the Maryland Population Research Center. His current work investigates how macro-level institutionalized practices (e.g., municipal divestment, gentrification, policing, racism) influence conditions of unsafety in Black communities and inform the ways that Black people navigate daily life in the past and present. His research has appeared in venues such as Health Services Research, City & Community, and the Du Bois Review.

Seminar Format

Location: IN PERSON: 2208 LeFrak Hall. We are requesting advanced registration so that we can track capacity.  Please use this link to RSVP for in-person attendance.

Location ONLINE VIA ZOOM: Zoom Registration Link.  Upon registration, you will receive an automatically generated email with the direct link for the seminar.