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Do Health and Well-Being Change Around the Transition to Informal Caring in Early Adulthood? A Longitudinal Comparison Between the United Kingdom and Germany.

Xue, B; King, M; Deindl, C; Lacey, R; Di Gessa, G; McMunn, A (2024) Do Health and Well-Being Change Around the Transition to Informal Caring in Early Adulthood? A Longitudinal Comparison Between the United Kingdom and Germany. J Adolesc Health, 74 (5). pp. 885-891. ISSN 1879-1972 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2023.11.398
SGUL Authors: Lacey, Rebecca Emily

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Abstract

PURPOSE: Providing care in early adulthood may have long-term consequences, given the importance of this life stage for life-course transitions. This study aimed to analyze how the transition into caring during young adulthood (17-29 years old) influenced health and life satisfaction in the United Kingdom and Germany. METHODS: Datasets were from 10 annual waves of the UK Household Longitudinal Study and the German Socioeconomic Panel between the years 2009-2018. We used propensity score matching to match young adult carers (YACs) to similar noncarers to address the endogeneity of unpaid care provision. Then we applied piecewise growth curves to observe changes in self-rated health (United Kingdom N = 2,851; Germany N = 454) and life satisfaction (United Kingdom N = 2,263; Germany N = 449) between YAC and noncarers before, during, and after the onset of care. We assessed carer status, weekly hours spent on care, and duration of care. RESULTS: In the United Kingdom, life satisfaction decreased and the probability of reporting poor health increased after becoming a YAC, particularly for those who reported caring for more weekly hours. However, no such differences were found between YAC and noncarers in Germany. DISCUSSION: The onset and intensity of caring responsibilities during early adulthood influenced health and life satisfaction in the United Kingdom but not in Germany. One possible interpretation for these differences may be attributed to the different welfare contexts in which YACs are providing informal care. Our results highlight the importance of identifying and supporting the needs of young adults who are providing informal care while making key life-course transitions.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: © 2023 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Keywords: Germany, Health, Life satisfaction, Propensity score matching, UK, Young adult carers, 11 Medical and Health Sciences, 13 Education, 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, Public Health
SGUL Research Institute / Research Centre: Academic Structure > Population Health Research Institute (INPH)
Journal or Publication Title: J Adolesc Health
ISSN: 1879-1972
Language: eng
Dates:
DateEvent
16 April 2024Published
11 January 2024Published Online
27 November 2023Accepted
Publisher License: Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0
Projects:
Project IDFunderFunder ID
ES/W001454/1Economic and Social Research Councilhttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000269
16SV8702Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschunghttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100002347
PubMed ID: 38206223
Go to PubMed abstract
URI: https://openaccess.sgul.ac.uk/id/eprint/116114
Publisher's version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2023.11.398

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