| Summary: | <p><strong>Purpose: </strong>The everyday experience of safety promotes health and successful development during adolescence. To date, few studies have examined racial variation in the spatial determinants of <em>in-the-moment</em> perceived safety.</p>
<p><strong>Methods: </strong>Drawing on data from the Columbus, Ohio-based <em>Adolescent Health and Development in Context</em> study (N = 1,405), we consider the influence of intraindividual variability in Global Positioning System–based exposure to both high-proportion White urban neighborhoods and neighborhood violence for the everyday location-based safety perceptions of Black and White youth (ages 11–17) as captured by ecological momentary assessment.</p>
<p><strong>Results: </strong>Exposure to higher area-level violence reduces youths' safety perceptions. Momentary exposure to residentially White-dominated neighborhoods also reduces perceived safety, but only for Black youth who spend <em>more</em> time, on average, in White areas. In contrast, we observe some limited evidence that White youth perceive greater safety when in White neighborhoods if they spend more time in white neighborhoods on average.</p>
<p><strong>Discussion: </strong>These findings point to the need for greater attention to in situ experiences in understanding the origins of racial disparities in health and wellbeing. For Black youth, a restricted focus on the consequences of residing in Black segregated neighborhoods may obscure potentially health consequential exposures beyond these areas.</p>
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