Dear Parent,

You are invited to participate in a research study led by researchers at Brigham Young University about raising teenagers today. Our aim is to help health professionals, educators, and policy makers to make more informed decisions regarding how to support today’s youth and their families. You were invited to participate because you indicated that you are a parent of a teenage child.

For someone who participates in the study.

You will be asked to complete a 45-60 minute interview with a member of our research team over Zoom about your parenting experience. The interview will ask about you and your child’s emotional well-being, your parenting approach, and your general family relationships. Interviews will take place on Zoom, and need to be completed online using a laptop, desktop computer, or a device.

Eligibility:

To be eligible to participate today, you must be the legal guardian of a teenage child (ages 12 – 18) and reside with him/her. You must also be your child’s primary caregiver and be able to read and understand English.

Incentive:

 For the interview today, you will be awarded a $50 Amazon e-gift card. It will be sent directly to the email you provide on our booking page (next) immediately following your interview.

Participation in this study is voluntary.

All participation in this study is voluntary. You do not have to participate. If you do participate in the survey, you may choose to withdraw at any time without penalty. Also, you do not have to answer any questions you do not want to answer. Monetary compensation is conditional upon completion of the interview, but you can skip over uncomfortable questions and still receive full compensation. By participating in this study, you are under no obligation to participate in future surveys or interviews from us, as these are also voluntary.

Participation in this study is confidential.

At all times we protect your confidentiality. Upon receiving your data, we remove your name, birthdate, and other such identifiers from your data. This identifying information will be stored in a password protected folder on an encrypted server (Microsoft Teams), and then be discarded within 1 year. The remainder of your data will be stored on a separate encrypted server (Box), in a password protected folder. Only the researcher will have access to these data. Your deidentified data will be stored for up to 5 years, after which it will be archived in a Box folder with restricted access.

When results from the study are reported, neither your name nor any identifying information will be released. Instead, your results will be reported anonymously and/or for the group of participants as a whole. If excerpts from your interview are used, you will be assigned an alias. Your name will never be used in reporting results from this study.

Data Sharing:

We will keep the information we collect about you during this research study for analysis, and for potential use in future research projects. De-identified data from this study may be shared with the research community, with journals in which study results are published, and with databases and data repositories used for research. We will remove or code any personal information that could directly identify you before the study data are shared. Despite these measures, we cannot guarantee anonymity of your personal data.  

Participation in this study is optional.

You will not be penalized in any way if you choose not to participate in this study.

Benefits:

There are no direct benefits for participating in this study. However, we hope the knowledge gained from this study can inform our understanding of how we can better support American teens and their families, by sharing the information learned with mental health professionals, public officials, etc.

Risks:

You might perceive some of the questions as sensitive in nature. For example, we may ask questions related to mental health family dynamics. Also, as with all studies, there is a small risk of social or reputational damage (e.g., embarrassment) if confidentiality of your data is somehow comprised. We take extensive measures to prevent this from happening. You may skip any questions that you are uncomfortable with without losing compensation.  

If you have additional questions or wish to report a research-related problem, you may contact me, the primary researcher, by phone at (801) 422-7095, or by email at [email protected]. If you have questions about your rights as a research participant, or wish to obtain information, ask questions or discuss any concerns about this study with someone other than the researcher(s), please contact the Brigham Young University Human Research Protections Program: [email protected]; 801-422-1461.  

Sincerely,

Adam A. Rogers, Ph.D.

Director, Project ADEPT

Associate Professor

Brigham Young University