The high prevalence and psychological impact of childhood exposure to potentially traumatic events (PTE) is a major public health concern in the United States. Considerable evidence has demonstrated the significant racial disparities that exist with respect to PTE exposure, indicating that Black youth are particularly burdened by these harmful experiences. Racism may serve a unique role in explaining why Black youth are disproportionately exposed to PTEs, and why mental health disparities are more likely to occur following such experiences. Despite clear evidence acknowledging racism as a major life stressor for Black youth, theoretical models of early childhood adversity have largely neglected the multifaceted influence of racism on mental health outcomes. Inspired by bourgeoning literature highlighting the potentially traumatic nature of racism-related experiences for Black youth, we present a culturally-informed Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) model, or “C-ACE”, to understand the pervasive and deleterious mental health impact of racism on Black youth. This model extends the ACE framework by noting the significance of racism as an ACE exposure risk factor, a distinct ACE category, and a determinant of post-ACE mental health outcomes among Black youth. The model acknowledges and supports the advancement of ACEs research that takes a culturally informed approach to understanding the intergenerational and multilevel impact of racism on the mental health of Black youth. Future research utilizing the proposed C-ACE model is essential for informing clinical and public health initiatives centered on reducing the mental health impact of racism-related experiences and health disparities in the United States.

儿童时期接触潜在创伤事件（PTE）的高患病率和心理影响是美国的一个主要公共卫生问题。大量证据表明，在 PTE 暴露方面存在显着的种族差异，这表明黑人青少年尤其承受着这些有害经历的负担。种族主义可能在解释为什么黑人青少年过多地接触 PTE 以及为什么在经历此类经历后更有可能出现心理健康差异方面发挥着独特的作用。尽管有明确的证据承认种族主义是黑人青少年的主要生活压力源，但儿童早期逆境的理论模型在很大程度上忽视了种族主义对心理健康结果的多方面影响。受到新兴文献的启发，这些文献强调了种族主义相关经历对黑人青年的潜在创伤性，我们提出了一种文化背景下的不良童年经历（ACE）模型，或“C-ACE”，以了解种族主义对心理健康的普遍且有害的影响关于黑人青年。该模型扩展了 ACE 框架，指出种族主义作为 ACE 暴露风险因素、独特的 ACE 类别以及黑人青年中 ACE 后心理健康结果的决定因素的重要性。该模型承认并支持 ACE 研究的进步，该研究采用文化知情的方法来了解种族主义对黑人青年心理健康的代际和多层次影响。利用拟议的 C-ACE 模型进行的未来研究对于为临床和公共卫生举措提供信息至关重要，这些举措的重点是减少美国种族主义相关经历和健康差异对心理健康的影响。