Examining adolescents' experiences of distress when participating in research on well-being and early life adversity.

Abstract

Rationale: Most child well-being and childhood adversity research is informed by proxy informants such as parents or teachers rather than children and youth. This may be due to concerns about perceived sensitivity, challenges accessing and engaging with children in research, ethical considerations, and apprehensions about causing undue harm and distress. This study aimed to understand adolescents' identification of, and reactions to, questions in the context of participating in a survey of well-being and adversity.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to enhance our understanding of how adolescents identify and respond to potentially upsetting questions about well-being and life experiences, including childhood adversity.

Method: Data were from 1002 adolescent respondents aged 14 to 17 years. The Well-being and Experiences (WE) survey assessed several domains of life, including general health and well-being and early life adversity. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, logistic regression models, and thematic analysis approaches.

Results: Few adolescent respondents reported feeling upset when completing the survey (11.2 %). Among those who reported feeling upset, 92.0 % indicated that it was still important to ask those upsetting questions, and only two respondents (1.8 %) thought upsetting questions should be removed. Ten themes emerged from the adolescents' reflections on self-reported upsetting questions, including identity and life satisfaction, motivation, mental health, and school; childhood adversity was not primarily identified.

Conclusions: Findings indicate that conducting research on well-being and childhood adversity directly with adolescents is feasible and minimally distressing. Future research should consider how to engage youth directly in research to understand better the scope and outcomes associated with childhood adversity.