UC Irvine

African Americans and Native Americans experience more psychological and behavioral health disparities when compared to European Americans. These disparities may be associated with disproportional exposures to stress and trauma due to the unique historical trauma these populations have suffered in the U.S. The intergenerational effects of stress and trauma on psychological and behavioral outcomes have been demonstrated in populations that have faced historical trauma (e.g., Holocaust survivors). The purpose of this systematic review was to examine the intergenerational effects of stress and trauma on the psychological and behavioral outcomes of African Americans and Native Americans in the U.S. PsycINFO, PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, and Web of Science were searched for studies that met eligibility criteria. After duplicates were removed, 1,671 studies were screened, and seven studies were included in this review. Results provided some evidence for the adverse intergenerational effects of stress and trauma (e.g., adverse childhood experiences) on the psychological and behavioral outcomes (e.g., substance use) of African Americans and Native Americans in the U.S. Nonetheless, the findings of this review precluded robust conclusions about this relation due to the current lack of rigorous studies addressing this topic in the literature. This review demonstrated the need for a cohesive body of literature that rigorously examines the intergenerational effects of stress and trauma on the psychological and behavioral outcomes of African Americans and Native Americans in the U.S. from which to draw strong conclusions and generate recommendations.