Why Are Parents Unintentionally Coercing Children To Participate In Research

Adults are obligated to respect children’s rights to participate in research, but in doing so it is imperative that adults are not unintentionally coercing children into participation. Adults and researchers must be aware of the power imbalances that are active during the research process and to do everything they can to equalize these imbalances. Researchers need to give children the tools they need to know that participation is voluntary and that they may withdraw their participation at anytime. Researchers also need to emphasize that there are no wrong answers and children are allowed to express their opinion and answers freely.

The majority of research conducted with children involves having children communicate their thoughts, knowledge,

Children are perceived as not being able to access the appropriate resources needed, therefore it is considered an adults’ responsibility to intervene and provide a suitable intervention (Mishna et al., 2004). Researchers conducting studies with children are challenged to carefully balance the need to protect young people while not infringing on their rights to confidentiality. While confidentiality should be respected, there are situations in which keeping all information private might cause greater harm to the child than disclosure. Circumstances under which researcher are required to disclose information include conditions where a legal obligation exists (e.g., disclosure of child abuse) or where there is an immediate risk of harm (e.g., serious threat of suicide) that can only be prevented by releasing information (Kemper, Fangerau, & Fegert, 2010; Kobocow, McGuire, & Blau, 1983). Researchers have an ethical duty to release information to the proper authority if they feel a child is at risk (Beresford,

Yet, the best interest of the child it is not always easily discernable, leaving a wide range of uncertainty that researchers must navigate. These issue may be further exacerbated by disagreements between what a researcher and parent believes is best for the child. Parents and other significant adults may feel that they have the rights to know about their child’s emotional or physical distress, even when these events do not warrant a legal obligation of disclosure. Certain families may not see children as having a need for privacy and expect to be informed of any and all information disclosed to the researcher (Mauthner 1997).Yet, a researcher may believe that revealing this information violates the child’s confidentiality rights. Researchers also need to consider how parents’ willingness to allow their child to participate is affected by the limitations of confidentiality, as access and retention of child participants is vital to the research process (King, & Churchill, 2000). To ensure that both parent and child understand when a disclosure will be made, Minsha et al., (2004) suggested that researchers should clearly present their intentions with respect to sharing any information, as well as the process that will be followed with the child and the parent. Currently, it is