Invisible barriers and lasting scars for racially/ethnically minoritized youth: The role of state-level opportunity on adverse childhood experiences exposure risk.

Previous research has shown there are racial/ethnic disparities in exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) that can affect youths' physical and mental well-being. Structural opportunity factors-including a lack of economic, community, educational, and health resources-may increase exposure to ACEs among youth of color relative to non-Hispanic White youth. This study explored connections between state-level opportunity and ACE exposures and examined differences by race/ethnicity within the United States (N = 46,395). Average cumulative ACEs were generally significantly higher among Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black youth relative to non-Hispanic White youth, p < .001. Non-Hispanic Black youth had higher average cumulative ACEs scores within 28 U.S. states relative to non-Hispanic White youth. Hispanic youth had higher ACE exposures in 18 states relative to non-Hispanic White youth. States with higher opportunity scores were in the U.S. Northeast and Midwest. Multilevel model analyses showed that as state-level opportunity increased (i.e., education, healthcare, economic, community), youth's exposure to ACEs decreased significantly for non-Hispanic White youth but not non-Hispanic Black, p = .031, or Hispanic youth, p = .002, r