Nationally, risk of trauma exposure appears unequally distributed by race. Young African American men experience rates of nonfatal physical assault at twice the rate of Whites, at eight versus four per 1000 persons, respectively (Harrell, 2007). Among 4508 females in the Missouri-Adolescent Female Twin Study, Werner and colleagues (2016) found that African American females were over twice as likely as White females to experience childhood physical abuse (29% versus 12.5%, respectively). Greater exposure may be partially attributed to the fact that African American children are more likely than their White counterparts to grow up in poverty (24% Black versus 9% White) (Proctor et al., 2016), a risk factor for physical abuse and neglect (Buka et al., 2001)—and are also disproportionately affected by community-level violence (Smith & Patton, 2016). Growing up in a neighborhood where violent crime or economic deprivation is common may increase the risk of witnessed violence and traumatic stress among Black youth (Overstreet & Braun, 2000; Smith & Patton, 2016).
