College Students’ Reactions to Participating in Relational Trauma Research: A Mixed Methodological Study

Abstract

Using a mixed methodology, the present study compared men's and women's perceived benefits and emotional reactions with participating in research that inquired about child maltreatment and intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization and perpetration. Participants consisted of 703 college students (357 women, 346 men), ages 18 to 25 who reported on their childhood maltreatment, adolescent and adult IPV victimization and perpetration, and their reactions (perceived benefits and emotional effects) to participating. Participants' reactions to participating were assessed using quantitative scales, as well as open-ended written responses that were content coded by researchers. Women reported more personal benefits from research, whereas men and women reported similar levels of emotional reactions to research participation. Furthermore, greater frequencies of child maltreatment and IPV victimization were related to higher levels of emotional reactions. Common self-identified reasons for emotional reactions (e.g., not liking to think about abuse in general, personal victimization experiences) and benefits (e.g., reflection and awareness about oneself, learning about IPV) were also presented and analyzed. These data underscore the importance of future research that examines the behavioral impact of research participation utilizing longitudinal and in-depth qualitative methodologies. Findings also highlight the potential psychoeducational value of research on understanding the reasons underlying participants' benefits and emotional effects.

High School Youth’s Reactions to Participating in Mixed-Methodological Dating Violence Research

“…We used researcher-created items, based on other instruments that were too long to use in the current study (Newman, Willard, Sinclair, & Kaloupek, 2001) and used in previous research (Edwards, Neal, Dardis, Kelley, Gidycz, Ellis, 2015). First, we asked participants, “If you knew ahead of time what was going to be covered in the survey and group discussion, would you still have agreed to do it?” with response options “yes” (coded 1 in quantitative analyses) and “no” (coded 0 in quantitative analyses).…”

Emotional Consequences of Participating in Research: How Does a History of Non-Suicidal Self-Injury and Trauma Exposure Affect Participants’ Experiences?

“…Certainly, ethical researchers must always be concerned about the possibility of their research leading to undue, intense emotional duress. However, upon examining qualitative responses of participants in trauma-related research (Edwards et al, 2017), some participants shared that, while they did have emotional responses, they also found the research experience to be cathartic, to be an opportunity to reflect on past experiences they usually avoided thinking about, or to reflect on progress made in their lives. Emotional experiences are not universally negative; indeed, emotional numbing is predictive of increased engagement in NSSI (Selby et al, 2013; Voon et al, 2014).…”

“…These reactions have been assessed using the Emotional Reactions subscale of the Reactions to Research Participation Questionnaire (RRPQ; Newman et al, 2001), which includes emotional experiences such as being “emotional” during the research, the research raising unexpected emotions, and experiencing “intense” emotions or unwanted thoughts during participation. On average, 4% to 7% of trauma-related research participants indicate negative, unexpected emotional reactions 1 to participating in research (DePrince & Freyd, 2006; Edwards et al, 2009, 2017; Edwards, Probst, et al, 2012). There are some identified risk factors that may contribute to some individuals experiencing more negative or unexpected emotional reactions, which include older age (Dyregrov et al, 2000), social vulnerability (e.g., minority status; Dutton et al, 2002, as cited by Newman & Kaloupek, 2004), and the presence of trauma-related symptoms (DePrince & Chu, 2008).…”

“…In a study by Dutton and colleagues with survivors of childhood sexual abuse, current depressive and PTSD symptoms were also associated with increased emotional reactions while participating in research (Dutton et al, 2002, as cited in Newman & Kaloupek, 2004). However, when adult childhood abuse and IPV survivors reflected on their emotional reactions to participating in research, they noted that their emotional reactions consisted of reflective thoughts about their abuse experiences and past relationships (Edwards et al, 2017). In addition, participants’ reports of distress did not interfere with their willingness to participate in future studies (Deprince & Chu, 2008) and typically co-occur with personal benefits (e.g., insight; Edwards, Gidycz, et al, 2012; Edwards, Probst, et al, 2012; Edwards et al, 2013; Gagnon et al, 2015).…”

“…Higher levels of trauma exposure, in particular, are associated with slightly increased emotional reactions during and after participating in research opportunities. For example, Edwards et al (2017) found that greater frequencies of childhood maltreatment and interpersonal violence (IPV) victimization predicted higher levels of emotional reactions after participating in trauma-related research. In a study by Dutton and colleagues with survivors of childhood sexual abuse, current depressive and PTSD symptoms were also associated with increased emotional reactions while participating in research (Dutton et al, 2002, as cited in Newman & Kaloupek, 2004).…”