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Vulnerability in research: a developmental perspective on research risk
1Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln 68588-0308.
Insights
Assessing research risks for children requires a developmental view, as vulnerability changes with age and individual factors. Researchers must consider these complex dynamics to protect children
Area of Science:
- Child Development
- Research Ethics
- Pediatric Vulnerability
Background:
- Children are a heterogeneous population with varying developmental competencies and backgrounds.
- Assessing research risks in children presents unique challenges due to their heterogeneity.
- Existing risk assessments may not fully capture the dynamic nature of child vulnerability.
Abstract:
Assessing potential risks to children who participate in developmental research is a challenging task because children are a heterogeneous population, varying in developmental competencies and in background characteristics. This essay offers a developmental perspective on research risk, emphasizing that children's vulnerability to research risk changes in complex ways: some risks decrease with increasing age, some increase as the child matures, others change in a curvilinear fashion, while some remain essentially stable with development. Because vulnerability in research does not simply decline linearly with age, assessments of research risk must entail multidimensional considerations that vary over developmental time. In a similar manner, individual characteristics of children at any age (e.g., maltreatment, at-risk status, etc.) may also heighten their vulnerability to certain risks which require special consideration by researchers. Finally, this discussion of developmental vulnerability and the principles underlying research ethics suggests that in addition to the conventional risk/benefit analysis, researchers are in an optimal position to establish and maintain standards of decent treatment of children in research that safeguard their rights as research participants. Suggestions for fostering this process in the research community are outlined.