Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London WC1E 7HB, UK.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Oct 28;19(21):14076. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192114076.
Despite growing interest in young adult carers, little is known about trends in prevalence of caregiving among young adults aged 16-29. Furthermore, few studies have so far investigated demographic, health, and socioeconomic inequalities in the duration of care among young carers as well as demographic differences in caregiving characteristics. Using data from 11 waves of the nationally representative UK Household Longitudinal Study (2009-2021), we first estimated the prevalence of caregiving among 16-29 years-old adults at each wave. Results show that about 9% of those aged 16-29 provided care, and that this prevalence remained stable throughout the 2010s. Then, selecting respondents who participated for three waves of more, we assessed demographic, socioeconomic, and health characteristics associated with duration of care using ordinal regression models. Almost 52% of carers cared at two or more waves. Compared to non-carers, those who cared had more disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds, were from ethnic minorities and reported poorer health, particularly if they cared at two or more waves. Finally, focusing on carers, we tested differences by sex, age, and urbanicity in care relationships, intensity, and duration. Overall, women and those aged 25-29 cared for longer hours, for more people, and for more years than men and younger carers respectively. Put together, these findings provide an up-to-date description of young carers in the 2010s in the UK.
尽管人们对青年照顾者越来越感兴趣，但对于 16-29 岁的青年照顾者的流行趋势知之甚少。此外，迄今为止，很少有研究调查青年照顾者的护理持续时间方面的人口统计学、健康和社会经济不平等，以及照顾特征方面的人口统计学差异。利用来自英国家庭纵向研究（2009-2021 年）的 11 个波次的数据，我们首先在每个波次估计了 16-29 岁成年人的照顾者比例。结果表明，约有 9%的 16-29 岁的人提供了照顾，而且这一比例在整个 2010 年代保持稳定。然后，我们选择了参加了三波以上的受访者，使用有序回归模型评估了与护理持续时间相关的人口统计学、社会经济和健康特征。近 52%的照顾者在两个或更多波次中提供了照顾。与非照顾者相比，那些照顾者的社会经济背景更为不利，来自少数民族，报告的健康状况更差，特别是如果他们在两个或更多波次中提供了照顾。最后，我们关注了性别、年龄和城市性对照顾关系、强度和持续时间的差异。总体而言，女性和 25-29 岁的照顾者比男性和年轻的照顾者分别照顾更长的时间、更多的人、更长的时间。综上所述，这些发现提供了英国 2010 年代青年照顾者的最新描述。
