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To cite this article: Steven G. Brandl , James Frank , Robert E. Worden & Timothy S. Bynum
(1994) Global and specific attitudes toward the police: Disentangling the relationship, Justice
Quarterly, 11:1, 119-134, DOI: 10.1080/07418829400092161
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GLOBAI, AND SPECIFIC ATTITUDES
TOWARD THE POLICE:
DISENTANGLING THE
RELATIONSHIP*
STEVEN G. BRANDL
University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee
JAMES FRANK
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University of Cincinnati
ROBERT E. WORDEN
The University at Albany, State University of New York
TIMOTHY S. BYNUM
Michigan State University
* The authors are grateful for the comments and suggestions of the JQ refer-
ees. The data on which this article is based were collected under Grant 89-DD-CX-
0049 from the National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice. The analy-
ses and interpretations presented here are not intended to reflect the views of the
U.S. Department of Justice.
1 One could question, however, the extent to which the analyses presented by
White and Menke actually parallel Dennis's (1976) hypothesis. Specifically, White
and Menke (1982) measure general support in terms of responses to the statement
"Most police are competent in their work," while they measure specific support in
terms of responses to "A lot of criminals get off free because the police are not doing
their jobs effectively." Although the second item may be more specific than the first
in that it asks about a particular type of police "competence," the object of the judg-
ment ("the police") is the same in both cases. A seemingly more valid measure of
specific support would focus on a particular role incumbent, and thus on the police in
a particular contact situation.
122 GLOBAL AND SPECIFIC ATTITUDES
2 See Hero and Durand (1985) for an example outside the police context.
BRANDL, FRANK, W O R D E N AND BYNIYM 123
METHOD
Sample
Data for this study were collected through a three-wave panel
survey t h a t was conducted as part of a larger study of narcotics en-
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t h e g e n e r a l i z a b i l i t y of t h e findings we r e p o r t below m a y be l i m i t e d
to s u c h neighborhoods. We will r e t u r n to this issue in o u r discus-
sion.
T a b l e 1, Demographic Characteristics o f W a v e 3, P a n e l ,
and Sample Areas"
Data
The s a m e questions were a s k e d at b o t h T1 a n d T~. F o r a n a l y s e s
c o n c e r n i n g t h e d i s p a r i t y b e t w e e n specific a n d m o r e global a t t i t u d e s
(Table 2), we use only the T1 data. F o r the c a u s a l a n a l y s e s (Tables
3 a n d 4), we use t h e p a n e l d a t a to provide the p r o p e r t e m p o r a l o r d e r
of variables.
W e m e a s u r e d citizens' global a t t i t u d e s t o w a r d t h e police ac-
c o r d i n g to t h e i r r e s p o n s e s to this question: "In general, h o w satis-
fied a r e y o u w i t h the police? Are y o u v e r y satisfied, s o m e w h a t
BRANDL, FRANK, WORDEN AND BYNUM 125
tact within the past year were asked about their most recent con-
tact of that type. 4 For all of the specific attitude items, the response
options were the same as in the global measure: "Were you very
satisfied, somewhat satisfied, somewhat dissatisfied, or very
dissatisfied?"
Items that potentially could confound the relationship between
specific attitudes and more global attitudes toward the police are
included as control variables in the multivariate analyses. These
variables are the citizen's age, education, race, income, and
gender.5
RESULTS
To assess the disparity between specific and global attitudes
toward the police, and to explore the association between the two,
we compare the two measures across types of contact: first, by com-
puting differences in mean item scores with t-tests of statistical sig-
nificance; second, by examining the joint distribution of scores; and
third, by estimating correlations. 6
As shown in Table 2, the mean level of satisfaction expressed
by individuals with each specific contact is equal to or greater than
4 The Wave 2 a n d Wave 3 interviews were six months apart, b u t in the Wave
3 interview, respondents were asked about contacts t h a t occurred within t h e past
year. To ensure proper temporal order of contacts a n d (global) satisfaction, those
respondents who stated during the Wave 3 interview t h a t their most recent contact
with the police occurred before the Wave 2 interview are either coded as not h a v i n g a
contact (Table 3) or excluded from the analyses (Table 4).
5 We used the foUowing coding schemes: education (1 = less t h a n high school,
2 = some h i g h school, 3 = completed high school, 4 = some college, 5 = completed
college/some advanced college); race (1 = nonwhite, 2 = white); income (1 = 0 -
$8,000, 2 = $8,001 - $15,000, 3 = $15,001 - $25,000, 4 = more t h a n $25,000); gender
(1 = male, 2 = female). Age was coded in its raw form.
6 All of the respondents included in these analyses (N=262) h a d h a d either a n
'~information," a "help," a %ictimization, ~ or a "stopped and questioned" contact with
the police. Only two (of 262; .8%) h a d h a d all four types of contact, 22 (8.4%) h a d
t h r e e types of contact, a n d 66 (25.2%) h a d two types of contact. The r e m a i n i n g 172
(65.6%) h a d j u s t one type of contact. Therefore, because well over h a l f of the sample
only h a d one type of (measured) contact with the police, the possibility of con-
founding experiences is of little concern.
126 GLOBAL AND SPECIFIC ATTITUDES
2=somewhat dissatisfied 15 1 6 8 0
3=somewhat satisfied 25 2 8 13 2
4=very satisfied 54 3 13 23 15
Global m e a n = 2.37
Specific mean = 2.42
t-value = -.53; p=.60
Satisfaction/Assistance .58 103 23 21 41 18
l=very dissatisfied 26 12 7 7 0
2=somewhat dissatisfied 13 4 4 5 0
3=somewhat satisfied 28 7 5 15 1
4=very satisfied 36 0 5 14 17
Global mean = 2.52
Specific mean = 2.72
t~value = -1.91; p=.06
Satisfaction/Stopped .24 56 10 12 25 9
l=very dissatisfied 15 6 1 7 1
2=somewhat dissatisfied 10 1 4 3 2
3=somewhat satisfied 12 1 3 6 2
4=very satisfied 19 2 4 9 4
Global m e a n = 2.59
Specific mean = 2.63
t-value = -.20; p=.85
Satisfaction/Victimization .43 49 15 18 11 5
l=very dissatisfied 16 8 4 4 0
2=somewhat dissatisfied 9 5 4 0 0
3=somewhat satisfied 11 0 6 3 2
4=very satisfied 13 2 4 4 3
Global m e a n = 2.12
Specific mean = 2.43
t-value = -1.82; p=.08
Notes: Missing data are excluded from the analyses. Raw frequencies are
presented in cross-tabulations.
stopped by the police were satisfied with the way they were treated,
whereas half of those who requested information and more t h a n
one-third of those who had requested assistance were dissatisfied
with the police response. Analyses of global attitudes toward the
police should estimate, if possible, the effects of specific attitudes,
not of contacts as such, because citizens are so diverse in their as-
sessments of seemingly similar types of experiences.
To test the hypotheses that assert a causal relationship be-
tween the global and the specific attitudes, we perform ordinary
least squares (OLS) regression analyses. 7 Table 3 displays findings
concerning the hypothesis that specific attitudes influence global
attitudes. Here the dependent variable is T2 global satisfaction.
The independent variables are T1 global satisfaction, the specific
satisfaction measures, and (as controls) the demographic items. By
including prior (T1) global satisfaction in the analyses, and thus
controlling for its impact on T2 global satisfaction, we can more ac-
curately identify the effects of specific attitudes on general atti-
tudes. Table 3 shows, in parentheses, the estimated effects of
specific satisfaction and demographic characteristics when T~
global satisfaction is omitted from the model; these are the results
of a cross-sectional analysis that makes the customary assumption
about causal direction.
In both sets of analyses presented in Table 3 (with and without
T1 global satisfaction), each of the four specific attitudes appears as
two variables that are coded to represent degrees of positive (satis-
fied) or negative (dissatisfied) evaluations of each experience
(2=very satisfied or very dissatisfied; l=somewhat satisfied or some-
what dissatisfied; 0=did not have a contact of that type). For exam-
ple, a respondent who was "somewhat satisfied" with the officer in a
DISCUSSION
This study represents an attempt to understand more clearly
the relationship between specific and more global attitudes toward
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~D
Table 4. OLS Regression Analyses of Specific Satisfaction (T2)
REFERENCES
Benson, P.R. (1981) "Political Alienation and Public Satisfaction with Police Serv-
ices." Pacific Sociological Review 24:45-64.
Carter, D.L. (1985) '%Iispanic Perception of Police Performance: An Empirical As-
sessment." Journal of Criminal Justice 13:487-500.
Dean, D. (1980) "Citizen Ratings of the Police: The Difference Contact Makes." Law
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