User:AdrianaRuiz921/ACEs and Latinx Population

= ACEs in Latinx Populations =

Psychological Effects of ACEs
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are identified as serious and traumatizing experiences, such as abuse, neglect, and other harmful events or situations that occur within the child's household or environment. In low-income households and neighborhoods, exposure to ACEs within the child's community is all too common. ACEs were first identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Kaiser Permanente's study conducted from 1995 to 1997, where ACEs were examined and correlated with later-life well-being. With one in four children having experienced or witnessed a potentially traumatic event, the study suggests that children who grow up in an unsafe environment are at risk for developing negative health outcomes that impact the child’s brain development, immune systems, and regulatory systems due to the sensitive period of development in early childhood.

Further research on ACEs determined that children who experience ACEs are more likely than their similar-aged peers to experience challenges in their biological, emotional, social, and cognitive functioning. Also, children who have experienced an ACE are at higher risk of being re-victimized or experience multiple ACEs. The amount and types of ACEs can cause significant negative impacts and increase the risk of internalizing and externalizing behaviors in children.

To date, there is still limited research on how ACEs impact children from the Latinx population. With the Latinx population becoming one of the largest minority populations, and growing within the United States (U.S.), it is crucial to examine how ACEs negatively impact Latinx children's development and develop ways to reduce the risk of ACEs within the population.

Latinx Trauma Experiences
When it comes to trauma experience, Latinx children are at higher risk, almost twice as much, than their White peers of experiencing ACEs and developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or PTSD symptoms due to increased challenges that Latinx families face, such as immigration, discrimination, violence, low socioeconomic status (SES), and alcohol and substance use. Many U.S.-born Latinx children have a foreign-born parent who is considered an unauthorized immigrant, presenting many challenges for the family. With the increased stress that Latinx families face because of the described challenges, there is a greater risk of gang involvement, exposure to substance use, mental health problems, harmful parenting practices, and medical difficulties.

Latinx parents who have migrated to the U.S. tend to have less education and do not speak or understand English fluently. These barriers decrease their chances of finding stable and well-paying jobs, increasing the risk of low SES among this population. With the increased amount of barriers with language, education, and low SES, Latinx families’ stress increases as they cannot access resources such as food assistance, health coverage, and mental health support, increasing their likelihood of ACEs. For those children who have undocumented parents, their chances of ACEs are elevated since they may witness their parents being arrested, detained, or deported for being undocumented. There is minimal research on how ACEs impact children from Latinx families because many ACEs may go unreported in fear of deportation or separation from the children.

Intimate and domestic violence is another example of an ACE that many Latinx families face. Within the Latinx population, gender roles are clearly defined and implemented within the family dynamic. It is culturally expected that men present as powerful and dominant while women are submissive and self-sacrificing. Due to these gender-roles and the transmission of these cultural roles, women tend to give in to their partner’s power and endure different forms of violence. For many Latinx women, incidents of domestic violence go unreported due to fear of affecting family cohesion, police involvement, deportation, and feelings of embarrassment and criticism that they might endure from the extended family. A longitudinal study showed that 45% of females and 50% of males reported having witnessed physical violence between their parents during their childhood. With increased domestic violence observed in the home, Latinx children are more likely to express develop unhealthy coping skills and continue the transmission of violence in their own relationships.

Protective Factors of ACEs
Protective factors are the variables within an individual or their community that help promote their well-being against adversity. Although Latinx families are at risk of experiencing more ACEs, research suggests that Latinx cultural values can be protective factors to ACEs and long-term trauma. Cultural values are the strong beliefs, traditions, and familistic values that Latinx holds firmly within their culture. Cultural values include the traditional values of respect, religion, familism, and gender roles. These cultural values are held in high regard in Latinx culture and endorsed at a young age; without these values, families can experience increased dysfunction levels. Parents must transmit their children's cultural values to continue the culture. Children also learn about the culture's values and behaviors through socialization with extended family members.

Within the Latinx population, family cohesion is embedded in the traditional cultural value known as familism. In Latinx culture, familism refers to the emotional bonding and supportiveness between family members, which leads to positive family functioning. Within Latinx culture, families must stick together and utilize family, both immediate and extended, as a support system, which ensures the children stay physically and psychologically healthy through social interactions and secure attachments with their family members. With an increased amount of support, the risk of parental stress experienced by Latinx parents can be minimized, reducing the chances of ACE exposure. Family cohesion can be identified as a protective factor, for example, one study found that strong familial orientation among Latinx families contributed to higher school success in Latinx children.

Research suggests that high family cohesion minimizes the risk of exposure to violence, risky behaviors, and negative mental health outcomes in adolescence and adulthood. Still, for some Latinx families, family cohesion is not as vital, which can be detrimental to the family dynamic when ACEs are present. Those who do not have substantial cohesion levels in their environments are more likely to experience negative mental health outcomes such as depression, anxiety, and psychotic symptoms. ACEs can lead to increased emotional and psychological distress in parents, which can negatively affect family cohesion. For this reason, it is essential to see how ACEs negatively impact family cohesion within the Latinx population.