Adverse childhood experiences across Multiracial and monoracial groups with and without Indigenous ancestry

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are linked to increased risk of a host of health outcomes in adulthood. Descriptive ACEs prevalence studies have previously identified that Multiracial people have the highest mean ACE score of any racial group, but do not offer explanations for these disparities. However, Multiracial people form one of the fastest-growing populations in the US, and the largest subgroup of Multiracial people is those that claim American Indian/Native American (AI/NA) ancestry. Mean ACE counts (scores) are also high among the AI/NA population, which may reflect impacts of land occupation and structural racism. This descriptive study uses data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) to test the hypothesis that mean ACE scores and prevalence of ACE components are higher among Multiracial AI/NA participants than Multiracial non-AI/NA participants. Mean scores were highest among AI/NA (mean = 3.21, 95% CI: 2.54, 3.97), Multiracial AI/NA (2.95, 95% CI: 2.71, 3.18), Multiracial non-AI/NA (2.88, 95% CI: 2.57, 3.19), and Black (2.84, 95% CI: 2.65, 3.02) groups. Differences in mean ACE scores and prevalence of ACE components between the two Multiracial groups were all insignificant. Results from this study did not support our hypothesis, suggesting that the Multiracial populations high ACE scores are not driven primarily by those with AI/NA ancestry. Future studies should repeat this analysis in larger datasets and explore other determinants of high mean ACE scores among the Multiracial population.