Abstract; Objective. Because racial and ethnic minoritized groups disproportionately represented essential workers and lacked equitable access to resources that mitigated exposure and mortality risk, the COVID-19 pandemic brought disparities to the forefront of public health, exacerbating existing discrepancies. These inequities highlight a pressing need for the prevention science field to investigate whether interventions promote equitable well-being, which served as the impetus for this study. We examined 885 programs with evaluations published from 2010-2021 and recorded in the Blueprints forHealthy Youth Development registry of preventive interventions. ; Methods. Focusing on race and ethnicity but also tracking reporting of gender, location, and economic disadvantage, we conducted a descriptive analysis on the prevalence of culturally tailored interventions (i.e., those developed for specific populations) and reporting of sample characteristics. In addition, inferential analyses examined reporting time trends, as well as the relationship between study quality (i.e., methodological soundness, beneficial effects) and culturally tailored programs, and racial ethnic enrollment. ; Results. Most studies were conducted in the U.S. (n=583). Two percent of programs were developed for Black or African American youth and four percent targeted Hispanic or Latino populations. For the 77% of studies that reported race, most enrollees were White (35%) followed by Black or African American (28%), and 31% were collapsed across racial categories or categorized with ethnicity, thus ignoring the intersectionality of race and ethnicity. In the 64% of studies that reported ethnicity, 32% of enrollees identified as Hispanic or Latino. Reporting did not improve over time, and there was no relationship between high quality evaluations and programs developed for racial ethnic minority groups, or samples with high proportions of racial ethnic enrollees. ; Conclusions. Research gaps on racial and ethnic groups identified in this study indicate the need for improved representation and clear reporting to reduce disparities and improve the utility of preventive interventions.
