Our Journals Will Continue to Follow the Science.

Abstract

Over the last 5 years, our family of journals have made a concerted effort to publish outstanding science on the impacts of structural and social determinants of health, including multiple forms of racism and minoritization (such as marginalization and discrimination based on gender and sexual identity) on the mental health of children and adolescents. We have built an editorial team with the requisite skills to critically assess and strengthen such manuscripts and to create a collaborative and supportive home for experts with a broad range of expertise and backgrounds to contribute to our mission. Summaries of our specific antiracism initiatives in service of these efforts are available as annual reports, the most recent published in December 2024.¹ A focus on structural and social determinants of health has been central to child developmental research for more than a century and is consistent with prominent models of child development, such as Bronfenbrenner's Socio-Ecological Model from 1977² and Meyer's Psychobiological Model from the early 1900s,³ incorporated into the Biopsychosocial Model by Engel in the 1970s.⁴ Indeed, research on the impacts of adverse childhood experiences (eg, poverty, experiencing violence or abuse or living in a family with unstable housing, being a victim of discrimination, and rural-urban disparities in access to care) are core components of our knowledge base and have guided the development of effective interventions at individual and family, school, and community levels.^5,6.