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Understanding Adult Children’s Experiences with Parental Mental Illness

CONSENT FORM

You are invited to take part in a research study about exploring how young adults understand and make sense of what it was like growing up with a parent who had a mental illness. This form is part of a process called “informed consent” to allow you to understand this study before deciding whether to take part.

This study seeks 10 volunteers who are:
18–25 years old
Grew up with at least one parent who experienced a mental illness
Must have lived with parent(s) most of their childhood

This study is being conducted by a researcher named Laura Paez, who is a doctoral student at Walden University.

Study Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore how young adults understand and make sense of what it was like growing up with a parent who had a mental illness. It focuses on their personal experiences, how these experiences shaped them, and how they see those early years now that they are older.

Procedures
After you consent, this study would involve you completing the following steps:
  • confirm that you qualify by answering a few questions about the study requirements
  • complete an anonymous online survey (20 minutes)
Here are the types of questions you will be asked:
  • What is your age?
  • During your childhood (ages 0 to 18), did one or both of your parents experience a mental illness?
  • Please describe, in your own words, what it was like growing up with a parent(s) who experienced mental illness, including aspects of your daily life, responsibilities, or the usual environment in your household.
  • How do you feel these childhood experiences have shaped who you are today, emotionally, socially, academically, and/or in your relationships with others?

Voluntary Nature of the Study
Research should only be done with those who freely volunteer. So everyone involved will respect your decision to join or not.
If you decide to join the study now, you can still change your mind later. You may stop at any time.

Risks and Benefits of Being in the Study
Being in this study could involve some risk of the minor discomforts that can be encountered in daily life such as sharing sensitive information. With the protections in place, this study would pose minimal risk to your wellbeing. If distress arises, support and referral can be obtained via dialing 988 for a national crisis hotline.

Like most research, this study offers no direct benefits to individual volunteers. The aim of this study is to benefit society by expanding the understanding of how early exposure to parental mental illness shapes young adults’ emotional, social, and behavioral development. Results of this study will be published in Scholarworks and possibly other research sources that are easily found if you search online for the researcher’s name along with the study topic.

Payment
No payment or thank-you gift will be provided to participants.

Security
The researcher is required to protect your privacy. Research files will be kept secure by password-protection. No names or identifying information will be collected with the questionnaire.

Protecting your name
Your identity will be kept confidential, within the limits of the law.

Protecting your responses
The researcher is authorized to publicly share anonymized group patterns from all volunteers’ responses.

Contacts and Questions
You can ask questions of the researcher by email at laura.paez@waldenu.edu. If you want to talk privately about your rights as a participant or any negative parts of the study, you can call Walden University’s Research Participant Advocate at 612-312-1210. Walden University’s approval number for this study is 01-15-26-1051695. It expires on January 14th, 2027

You might wish to retain this consent form for your records. You may ask the researcher or Walden University for a copy at any time using the contact info above.

Obtaining Your Consent

If you feel you understand the study and wish to volunteer, please indicate your consent by continuing the survey.
I. Eligibility
1.What is your age?
II. Demographics
2.What is your gender?
3.What is your current living situation?
4.What is your ethnicity and/or cultural background?
III. Study Questions
5.Please describe, in your own words, what it was like growing up with a parent(s) who experienced mental illness, including aspects of your daily life, responsibilities, or the usual environment in your household.
6.How did you understand your parent(s) mental illness when you were younger (before the age of 18), and how has your understanding changed over time to now?
7.In what ways did your parent(s) mental illness influence your perceptions of safety, stability, or emotional experiences (such as fear, worry, attachment, or confusion)?
8.How did these experiences affect your relationships with your siblings, friends, peers, or other relatives?
9.What coping strategies did you use during childhood/adolescence, and what sources of support (if any) were available to you?
10.Looking back now as a young adult, how do you make sense of your childhood experiences with your parent(s) mental illness?
11.How do you feel these childhood experiences have shaped who you are today, emotionally, socially, academically, and/or in your relationships with others?
12.Were there any specific moments, events, or interactions with your parent(s) that were particularly meaningful, confusing, or impactful in shaping your development?
13.What strengths, perceptions, or values do you feel you have developed because of your experiences growing up in these environments?
14.Did the stress or instability at home influence your decision-making, risk-taking, and/or impulsive behaviors (such as skipping school, running away, substance use, or involvement with risky peers)? How do you understand these behaviors now?
15.How do you feel that your early family environment shaped your responses to conflict, authority, rules, trust, boundaries, or problem-solving as you grew older?
16.Is there anything else you would like to share about your experiences growing up with a parent(s) who experienced mental illness?