Who Are We Missing? The Impact of Requiring Parental or Guardian Consent on Research With Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Two-Spirit, Queer/Questioning Youth.

Authors

Eli Cwinn
Courtney Cadieux
Claire V Crooks

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-12-2020

Journal

The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine

URL with Digital Object Identifier

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.07.037

Abstract

PURPOSE: The purpose was to examine whether a requirement for parental or guardian consent systematically limits which lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, two-spirit, queer/questioning (LGBT2Q+) youth participate in research.

METHODS: A total of 60 LGBT2Q+ youth (aged 14-18 years) completed measures assessing gender and sexual minority identity, depression and anxiety, help-seeking intentions, and social support.

RESULTS: A substantial proportion (37.6%) of youth reported that they would not have participated in the research if parental or guardian consent was required. Those who would not have participated had more negative attitudes about their sexual and gender identity, less family support, lower levels of help-seeking intentions, and higher levels of negative affect.

CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that requiring parental or guardian consent may exclude the most at-risk youth. Policy and practice decisions regarding the health and mental health outcomes of LGBT2Q+ youth might be based on incomplete and unrepresentative data.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Citation of this paper:

Cwinn, E., Cadieux, C., & Crooks, C. V. (2020). Who are we missing? The impact of requiring parental or guardian consent on research with lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, two-spirit, queer/questioning youth. Journal of Adolescent Health.