Abstract
Research with late-arriving immigrant youth (LIY) requires balancing ethical considerations to ensure protection from harm with the need to study their experiences. LIY are recent newcomers who arrive to the United States as teens, accompanied by a parent or unaccompanied. Late-arriving and unaccompanied immigrant youth are going through typical developmental transition challenges, while also adapting to a new country. The purpose of this article is to evaluate ethical considerations in research with late-arriving immigrant youth, including those who migrated unaccompanied. LIY are often overlooked, and literature on ethical considerations for research is limited. In this article we outline the following considerations for ethical research with late-arriving immigrant youth and unaccompanied youth: access and obtaining consent; recognizing within group diversity; and representational ethics. We conclude with recommendations for high quality, ethical, and relevant research to address the needs of late-arriving and unaccompanied youth as well as make sure we represent them with dignity.
What is the significance of this article for the general public?
Late-arriving immigrant youth (LIY) must adapt to the new country and to school while going through typical challenges that come with the developmental transition to adulthood, unlike immigrant teens who arrived when they were younger. They experience specific challenges upon arrival and have specific needs that need to be addressed. In this article we discuss ethical considerations when conducting research with LIY and unaccompanied immigrant youth and propose recommendations for researchers.
