Racial/ethnic wealth gaps and material hardship disparities among U.S. households with young children: An investigation in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

• Black/Latino(a) & White Racial/Ethnic wealth gaps persist in the COVID-19 pandemic. • Substantial racial/ethnic disparities exist in family material hardship experiences. • Higher income did not equitably protect Black & Latino(a) families from hardship. • Addressing racial/ethnic wealth gaps is key to equitable early childhood development. The long-existing racial/ethnic wealth gaps in the U.S. persist during the COVID-19 pandemic due to income inequalities and other structural racism experiences, which may contribute to racial/ethnic disparities in material hardship experiences. This study examined material hardship disparities and factors that may contribute to racial/ethnic wealth gaps among U.S. families with young children during the pandemic. Using survey data collected from a large national study among parents of children under six years old between April 2020 and October 2022 ( N = 6,903; 7.23 % Black, 12.33 % Hispanic/Latino[a]; 29.03 % below 200 % FPL), this study revealed factors that substantially contributed to racial/ethnic wealth gaps, including debt, home ownership, income changes, and discrimination experiences. Moreover, Black and Hispanic/Latino(a) households of middle-to-higher-income levels reported more material hardships than White households with similar income, suggesting that higher income levels could not fully compensate for the systemic, generationally accumulated wealth gaps or equitably protect families of color from hardships in the pandemic. Although not directly studying the total wealth amount, this study provided compelling evidence for racial/ethnic structural inequalities in the wealth accumulation processes and hardship experiences, highlighting the pervasive economic vulnerability among not only lower-income households, but also middle-to-higher-income Black and Hispanic/Latino(a) families with young children.