Older Adolescents’ Understanding of Participant Rights in the BlackBerry Project, a Longitudinal Ambulatory Assessment Study

Meter, D J, Ehrenreich, S E, Carker, C, Flynn, E and Underwood, M K (2019) Older Adolescents’ Understanding of Participant Rights in the BlackBerry Project, a Longitudinal Ambulatory Assessment Study. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 29 (3). pp. 662-674. ISSN 1050-8392

Abstract

For a long-term, longitudinal study that used BlackBerry smartphones for passive ambulatory assessment among older adolescents, this study focused on three areas of ethical concern: (1) adolescents’ competence to give assent; (2) understanding of confidentiality, the protection of information, and project goals; and (3) awareness of procedures and benefits, and comfort with the research design. One hundred and seventy-eight participants were 17 and 18 years old (84 girls). Results suggested that participants freely gave consent and understood most, but not all of the informed consent information. Participants reported a high level of satisfaction. Participants showed less understanding of when their confidentiality would be broken and how data would be protected.