There is a well-documented link between child maltreatment and poor health across the lifespan. This provides a strong case for ongoing research with youth involved in the child welfare system to reduce negative outcomes and support resilience while being inclusive of youth voices. However, detailed inquiries about maltreatment history and health consequences may cause re-experiencing of events and psychological distress for study participants. Data that accounts for different contexts, such as severity of maltreatment history and current trauma symptomatology, have been limited in considering the question of potential harms to youth who participate in research—especially longitudinal studies. This study compared self-reported impact of research participation against maltreatment history and current post-traumatic stress symptomatology among a randomly selected group of adolescents (< 18 years old) in the child protection service (CPS) system. Adolescents who report more serious child maltreatment and current trauma symptom severity reported higher scores on distress questions from pre- to post-assessment participation. Critically, participants who were more negatively impacted by study involvement also reported greater benefit from study involvement. The increase in both negative and positive impact does not shift the risk/reward ratio for participation, as risks alone do not increase for this vulnerable group of CPS involved youth. These results are consistent with previous findings from studies involving non-CPS populations and underlies the importance of empirical data to address the question of change in the risk/reward ratio and what factors might play a role in any change. This information can inform inclusion/exclusion criteria for future research with these vulnerable populations, thereby reducing the risk of distress among study participants.

中文翻译：

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儿童保护服务中青少年的虐待史、创伤症状和研究反应

虐待儿童与整个生命周期的健康状况不佳之间存在着有据可查的联系。这为正在进行的与参与儿童福利系统的青年的研究提供了一个强有力的案例，以减少负面结果并支持复原力，同时包容青年的声音。然而，关于虐待历史和健康后果的详细询问可能会导致研究参与者重新体验事件和心理困扰。考虑不同背景的数据，例如虐待史的严重程度和当前的创伤症状学，在考虑对参与研究的青年的潜在伤害问题——尤其是纵向研究——方面受到限制。本研究在儿童保护服务 (CPS) 系统中随机选择的一组青少年（<18 岁）中比较了自我报告的研究参与对虐待历史和当前创伤后应激症状的影响。报告更严重的儿童虐待和当前创伤症状严重程度的青少年报告了从评估前到评估后参与的痛苦问题得分较高。至关重要的是，受研究参与负面影响更大的参与者也报告说从研究参与中受益更大。负面和正面影响的增加不会改变参与的风险/回报比，因为对于这个涉及 CPS 的弱势群体而言，风险本身并不会增加。这些结果与先前涉及非 CPS 人群的研究结果一致，并强调了经验数据对于解决风险/回报比变化问题以及哪些因素可能在任何变化中发挥作用的重要性。这些信息可以为这些弱势群体的未来研究提供纳入/排除标准，从而降低研究参与者的痛苦风险。