A Longitudinal Analysis Comparing the Mental Health of Children By Level of Young Carer Status.

Introduction: Young carers research has predominantly focused on the experiences of children who often provide substantial levels of care for family members, and the impacts of this caring on their lives. While quantitative studies of prevalence have increased, there have been increasing calls for cross-sectional and longitudinal studies of young carers relative to children without caring responsibilities, to strengthen and challenge the existing evidence on impact.

Methods/materials: The study utilized the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England: Next Steps (LSYPE), a cohort study of over 12,500 children aged 13 in 2004. The data set enabled the cross-sectional and longitudinal study of young carers mental health relative to those without caring responsibilities. A descriptive analysis produced separate prevalence estimates for the whole young carer spectrum and those with more substantial responsibilities, and assessed caring impact on individual mental health aspects. This was a precursor to the structural equation modelling (SEM) of their overall mental health.

Results: The findings highlighted the marginal or positive impacts of short-term caring responsibilities, but also how mental health deteriorated over time. Both the short-term benefits and long-term deterioration of mental health was of a higher magnitude for those with more substantial responsibilities.

Conclusion: The analysis of the larger young carer spectrum highlighted a diversity of positive and negative outcomes. While this was partly due to the size of the caring roles, duration of time in the carer role was a key factor in problematic caring roles.