Background: Limited studies to date have explored the interplay of how individual identity, parental, familial, and contextual factors may impact the positive relationship between ACEs (adverse childhood experiences) and Latinx youth psychopathology. The aim of this study was to examine if these conditions mediate the relationship between ACEs and youth psychopathology in Latinx youth.

Method: Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study (n=11,875) data examined path models with ACEs as the predictor and internalizing/externalizing scores from the caregiver-reported Child Behavior Checklist as the outcome. Three path models examined: 1) ethnic identity, 2) familial context (principal component analyses (PCA) examining familial conditions), including parental monitoring, family conflict, and caregiver acceptance, and 3) community cohesion as mediators. Models were conducted separately for internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Covariates included sex at birth, age, and years in the U.S.

Results: Results remained consistent for externalizing and internalizing psychopathology: 1) Greater ACEs associated with negative familial conditions, and 2) negative familial conditions associated with higher ratings of ethnic identity and psychopathology. Although familial context mediated associations, there was not strong evidence for ethnic identity and community cohesion mediating the association between ACEs and psychopathology.

Conclusions: Unlike previous studies, ethnic identity did not influence the intersecting relationships between ACEs and psychopathology. Additional research is needed to unpack whether possible tensions rise as Latinx youth acculture into mainstream U.S. culture and achieve optimal levels of ethnic identity formation. Providers need to assess specific Latinx parental and familial contexts that may interfere with youth identity formation and processes.