Citation

Mitchell KJ, Ybarra ML, Langhinrichsen-Rohling J, Jackson LA, Patts CE. Ethics Behav. 2024; 34(2): 77-88.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2024, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/10508422.2022.2157277

PMID

38645935

PMCID

PMC11031126

Abstract

This article presents data from the Growing up with Media study related to the implementation of a risk reduction protocol that resulted in three groups of youth: low-risk youth (no flags), youth flagged because of violence involvement and not clinically referred; and flagged youth who were referred to a team clinician due to additional risk considerations. Data is from 3,979 U.S. youth 14-15 years of age recruited through social media between October 2018-August 2019. Four in ten youth were flagged for review.

FINDINGS suggest that this methodology of identifying and reviewing cases appears to be working as intended: Not only did referred youth have more flags than non-referred youth, but post-hoc analyses suggested that these youth also had higher rates of psychosocial problems (e.g., non-victimization adversity, substance use and depressed mood). The implementation of a risk reduction protocol such as the one described in this article adds a layer of human subject protection beyond the more standard list of websites and hotlines provided to all participants in most studies. This protocol leads the way for future studies to recreate a similar process to address concerning responses collected from survey research.

Language: en

Keywords

Ethics; Research; Risk Reduction; Violence; Youth