Background: Ethical concerns about involving young people in research on sensitive topics such as abuse prevention often centre on potential distress. Yet, little empirical evidence exists on how children and adolescents experience such participation and whether they perceive it as valuable.
Method: Data were drawn from a national survey of 4,952 children and adolescents aged 10-18 years (M = 13.9) across youth-focused settings (schools ~90%, sports clubs, religious ministry programs). Participants reported on safeguarding in the organisation that invited them to participate, perceived importance of research, willingness to participate after seeing the questions, and whether and how much the survey upset them. Predictors included age group, gender, Indigenous status, confidence in adults to respond to safety concerns, perceived barriers to help-seeking, and organisational safety climate.
Results: Most participants (89.7%) reported no distress; 10.3% indicated being upset. Despite this, 87.6% would participate again, and 64.8% rated participation as "quite" or "extremely" important. Logistic regression showed distress was less likely among older students (OR = 0.70) and those perceiving stronger safety climate (OR = 0.39) and fewer barriers (OR = 0.56). Gender and Indigenous status predicted higher odds of distress. Ordinal regression indicated perceived importance was positively associated with confidence in adults (β = .24), fewer barriers (β = .40), and stronger safety climate (β = .32), but not age. Males were less likely to rate participation as highly important.
Conclusions: Findings challenge assumptions that sensitive research is broadly harmful. While a minority experience distress, most endorse its importance and would participate again. Ethical practice should include safeguards for vulnerable groups and strengthen approaches that respect children's rights to be heard. Results highlight opportunities for meaningful child and adolescent participation, including co-design of sensitive research, ensuring safeguarding studies reflect young people's perspectives and priorities.