Ethical Issues in Research With Late-Arriving and Unaccompanied Immigrant Youth

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.