Janes Ed, Melendez-Torres G J
CASCADE (Children's Social Care Research and Development Centre), School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.
DECIPHer (Centre for Development, Evaluation, Complexity and Implementation in Public Health Improvement), School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.
J Adolesc. 2025 Apr;97(3):713-731. doi: 10.1002/jad.12448. Epub 2024 Dec 16.
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.
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.
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.
年轻照顾者研究主要聚焦于那些经常为家庭成员提供大量照顾的儿童的经历，以及这种照顾对他们生活的影响。虽然关于患病率的定量研究有所增加，但越来越多的人呼吁针对年轻照顾者与无照顾责任儿童进行横断面和纵向研究，以加强并质疑现有的关于影响的证据。
方法/材料：本研究利用了英格兰年轻人纵向研究：后续追踪（LSYPE），这是一项对2004年时13岁的12500多名儿童开展的队列研究。该数据集使得能够对年轻照顾者与无照顾责任者的心理健康进行横断面和纵向研究。描述性分析得出了整个年轻照顾者群体以及承担更多实质性责任的照顾者的患病率估计值，并评估了照顾对个体心理健康各方面的影响。这是对他们整体心理健康进行结构方程模型分析（SEM）的前奏。
研究结果突出了短期照顾责任的边际影响或积极影响，但也显示了心理健康如何随时间恶化。对于承担更多实质性责任的人来说，心理健康的短期益处和长期恶化程度都更高。
对规模更大的年轻照顾者群体的分析突出了积极和消极结果的多样性。虽然这部分归因于照顾角色的大小，但在有问题的照顾角色中，担任照顾者的时长是一个关键因素。
