Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

2021

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education

Advisor

Tina Jaeckle

Committee Member

Marcelo Castro

Committee Member

Thomas Mosley

Keywords

African American, fear of police, Generation Z (Gen Z), level of fear

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the level of fear Generation Z-African Americans have of police. The population for this research consisted of African Americans between the ages of 18 and 25 and resided in the United States of America. From this population, a sample size of 105 participants were constructed for the study. The research compared the level of fear Blacks have of police when grouped by age, gender, education level, region of the country, and community of residence. Random sampling was used for participant selection, and a series of non-parametric ANOVAs (i.e., Kruskal-Wallis tests) were conducted to analyze the data. The results of the study suggested that most Black citizens between the ages of 18-25 were moderately fearful of the police in the United States of America. The study did not find any significant differences in levels of fear of law enforcement based on age, gender, region of residence, or education level. However, community of residence did yield a difference in fear level. The data suggested there was a significant difference in fear of police between suburban and rural communities (p = .029), indicating that participants residing in suburban communities (M = 3.17, SD = 0.71, Median = 3.00) had higher levels of fear compared to participants residing in rural communities (M = 2.00, SD = 1.16, Median = 2.00).

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