ArticleThe Lancet regional health. Western Pacific2021
Associations between young informal caring and mental health: a prospective observational study using augmented inverse probability weighting.
Article in The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed.
- Personal care burden and emotional symptoms among young carers supporting family members with mental health problems.PCN reports : psychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 2026Article
- Young carers' mental health during and after the Covid-19 pandemic: variation by gender, ethnicity, income and peer, school or social support.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Article
- Association Between Youth Who Are Caregivers and Depression: The Mediating Role of Social Support.The Journal of school health · 2026Article
- The Impact of Coping and Psychological Flexibility on Young Adult Caregivers' Mental Health and Quality of Life.The journal of behavioral health services & research · 2026Article
- Deterioration of health-related quality of life: the hidden health burden of informal caregiving.The European journal of health economics : HEPAC : health economics in prevention and care · 2025Article
- A Longitudinal Analysis Comparing the Mental Health of Children By Level of Young Carer Status.Journal of adolescence · 2025Article
- Young Carers in Early Childhood-How Are Young Carers Represented in Broader Literature and What Factors Influence Dominant Representations of Young Carers in Early Childhood in the UK?Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Longitudinal associations between informal caring, social network, and psychological distress among adolescents and young adults: modelling within-person effects.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Promoting Mental Health and Well-Being Among Adolescent Young Carers in Europe: A Cross-National Randomized Controlled Trial Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Youth Caregivers of Adults in the United States: Prevalence and the Association Between Caregiving and Education.Demography · 2024Article
- The experience of young carers in Australia: a qualitative systematic review and meta-ethnographic synthesis.Australian journal of psychology · 2024Review
- Being a Young Carer in Portugal: The Impact of Caring on Adolescents' Life Satisfaction.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- The mental health impact of school bullying among young carers in Australia: a causal mediation analysis.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Gender and care: Does gender modify the mental health impact of adolescent care?SSM - population health · 2023Article
- Informal Caregiving in Adolescents from 10 to 16 Years Old: A Longitudinal Study Using Data from the Tokyo Teen Cohort.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Use of Parental Disability Trajectories to Identify Adolescents Who are Young Carers.Journal of youth and adolescence · 2023Article
- Associations between young caring and mental health: a prospective observational study using augmented inverse probability treatment weighting.The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2021Article
- Young carers in the COVID-19 pandemic: risks for mental health.The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAcross the world, many young people are supplying unpaid, informal care. There is growing evidence of the impact of this caring role on the lives of young informal carers, however there has been little quantitative analysis of the mental health impacts. This research aimed to estimate the effect of informal caring at age 14/15 years on mental health at age 18/19 years.
methodData was drawn from Waves 5, 6, 8 (2012-2018) of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. Effects of caring on mental health were assessed using augmented inverse probability weighting, with adjustment for potential confounders, and using the Kessler-10 measure of mental health. Caring was assessed with both a binary (any caring vs none), and a three category variable (no caring, less than daily caring, daily caring). Multiple imputation was carried out using chained equations, and analysis was conducted on both complete case (n=2165) and the imputed dataset (n=3341). OUTCOMES: In complete case models, any caring at age 14/15 years was associated with poorer mental health at age 18/19 years compared to those reporting no caring, with an average treatment effect (ATE) of 1.10 (95%CI 0.37, 1.83). The ATE of daily caring compared to no caring at age 14/15 years of age was 1.94 (95%CI 0.48, 3.39), and caring less than daily (compared to no caring) was associated with a treatment effect of 0.83(95%CI 0.06, 1.61). Associations were robust to several sensitivity analyses.
interpretationThese results suggest there is a mental health impact of caring in adolescence on mental health four years later. This highlights the need for support for young informal carers, particularly for those providing more intensive caring.
fundingThis study was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Award (TK, DE200100607).
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