Adverse Childhood Experiences in Latinx Families: A Comparison between Intraracial and Interracial Families

Xiafei Wang (), Fei Shen, Yongjun Zhang and Shiyou Wu
Additional contact information
Xiafei Wang: School of Social Work, David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA
Fei Shen: School of Psychology, College of Liberal Arts, Kean University, Union, NJ 07083, USA
Yongjun Zhang: Department of Sociology, Institute for Advanced Computational Science, Stony Brook University, Long Island, NY 11794, USA
Shiyou Wu: School of Social Work, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ 85004, USA

Societies, 2022, vol. 12, issue 6, 1-13

Abstract: Racial/ethnic minorities are prone to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), posing a concern over social justice. However, the influence of interracial family structure has been rarely discussed. Considering that 26% of Hispanic individuals form interracial marriages in the U.S., we need to examine whether interracial family structure matters for ACEs disparities in Latinx families. We hypothesized that there were differences in ACEs between intraracial and interracial families in the Latinx population. A Latinx sample was collected from the Fragile Family and Child Well-being Studies with 1113 children of two Latinx parents and 397 children of interracial parents (e.g., White mother/Latinx father, Black mother/Latinx father, Latinx mother/White father, Latinx mother/Black father). Negative binomial models revealed a higher overall ACEs score among children in interracial families ( β = 0.54, p < 0.05). Compared to children with two Latinx parents, children in each interracial family group were prone to higher risks of different ACEs. For example, children with Latinx mothers and Black fathers were more likely to experience parental separation ( OR = 2.33), household material hardship ( OR = 1.64), physical abuse ( OR = 6.01), and psychological abuse ( OR = 3.49) than children in intraracial Latinx families. Based on our findings, we call for culturally responsive ACEs prevention and intervention that consider the unique stressors of interracial families, to promote the health and well-being of racial/ethnic minorities.

Keywords: Latinx families; adverse childhood experiences; interracial families (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 A14 P P0 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 Z1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/12/6/173/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/12/6/173/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:12:y:2022:i:6:p:173-:d:983500

Access Statistics for this article

Societies is currently edited by Ms. Farrah Sun

More articles in Societies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().