---
title: ARIA Required Parent Roles | Accessibility Rule
description: Specific ARIA roles must be contained by particular parents
source_url:
  html: https://testingbot.com/support/accessibility/web/rules/aria-required-parent
  md: https://testingbot.com/support/accessibility/web/rules/aria-required-parent/index.md
---
# Make sure elements with an ARIA role that require parent roles are contained by them

Rule ID: aria-required-parentUser Impact: criticalGuidelines: WCAG 2.0

Certain ARIA roles must be contained by specific parent elements to function correctly.

## About This Rule

This rule checks that elements with ARIA roles are contained within the required parent elements, as specified in the [WAI-ARIA guidelines](https://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria/#roles_categorization). Ensuring the correct parent-child role relationships is essential for assistive technologies to convey the intended meaning and functionality to users.

## Why It Matters

The WAI-ARIA specification defines allowable and required parent and child roles for each ARIA role. If an element with a specific ARIA role lacks the necessary parent role, assistive technologies may not interpret the element as intended, leading to accessibility issues. For example, a `treeitem` role should be contained within a `tree` role to ensure proper functionality and user understanding.

## How to Fix

Ensure that elements with ARIA roles are contained within the required parent elements:

- Review the WAI-ARIA specifications to identify required parent roles for each child role.
- Modify the DOM structure to nest elements appropriately, ensuring that child roles are within their required parent roles.
- Use ARIA relationship attributes like `aria-owns` to define relationships when the DOM hierarchy does not reflect the required structure.

### Example

#### Fail

A `treeitem` element without the required `tree` parent:

    <div role="treeitem">Item 1</div>

#### Pass

A `treeitem` element correctly nested within a `tree` parent:

    <div role="tree">
      <div role="treeitem">Item 1</div>
    </div>

## ARIA Relationship Properties

ARIA provides several relationship properties to define associations between elements:

- `aria-activedescendant`: Identifies the currently active descendant of a composite widget.
- `aria-controls`: Identifies the element(s) controlled by the current element.
- `aria-describedby`: Identifies the element(s) that describe the current element.
- `aria-flowto`: Identifies the next element(s) in an alternate reading order.
- `aria-labelledby`: Identifies the element(s) that label the current element.
- `aria-owns`: Identifies an element's parent when the DOM hierarchy does not reflect the logical relationship.
- `aria-posinset`: Defines an element's position within a set.
- `aria-setsize`: Defines the number of items in a set.

## Other Rules

Interested in other web accessibility rules? Please see these other rules:

- [aria-roles](https://testingbot.com/support/accessibility/web/rules/aria-roles)
- [aria-toggle-field-name](https://testingbot.com/support/accessibility/web/rules/aria-toggle-field-name)
- [aria-tooltip-name](https://testingbot.com/support/accessibility/web/rules/aria-tooltip-name)
- [aria-valid-attr-value](https://testingbot.com/support/accessibility/web/rules/aria-valid-attr-value)
- [aria-valid-attr](https://testingbot.com/support/accessibility/web/rules/aria-valid-attr)