Meireles, A.; Marques, S.; Faria, S.; Lopes, J.C.; Teixeira, A.R.; Alves, B.; Becker, S. Being a Young Carer in Portugal: The Impact of Caring on Adolescents’ Life Satisfaction. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health2023, 20, 7017.
Meireles, A.; Marques, S.; Faria, S.; Lopes, J.C.; Teixeira, A.R.; Alves, B.; Becker, S. Being a Young Carer in Portugal: The Impact of Caring on Adolescents’ Life Satisfaction. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20, 7017.
Meireles, A.; Marques, S.; Faria, S.; Lopes, J.C.; Teixeira, A.R.; Alves, B.; Becker, S. Being a Young Carer in Portugal: The Impact of Caring on Adolescents’ Life Satisfaction. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health2023, 20, 7017.
Meireles, A.; Marques, S.; Faria, S.; Lopes, J.C.; Teixeira, A.R.; Alves, B.; Becker, S. Being a Young Carer in Portugal: The Impact of Caring on Adolescents’ Life Satisfaction. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20, 7017.
Abstract
Caring for an ill or disabled relative can present significant challenges that may exceed the per-sonal resources of the caregiver. Young carers (YCs) often take on this role, providing support to family members or friends, which can have far-reaching effects on various aspects of their lives. This study involved 235 adolescents, 106 YCs and 129 non-carers (NCs), who completed ques-tionnaires assessing life satisfaction, social support, family functioning, academic functioning, and caring activities. Group effects measured with MANOVA and MANCOVA (controlling for age effects), showed YCs to have higher amounts of caregiving activities than NC (as expected) but lower satisfaction with life. Hierarchical regressions also found that, for YCs, academic func-tioning, social support and the negative impact of caregiving predicted satisfaction with life; and that the negative impact of caregiving on YCs is explained by their family functioning and the amount of their caregiving activities. For NCs, only academic functioning, social support and family functioning predicted satisfaction with life. In conclusion, caregiving has a negative im-pact on YC’s life satisfaction, but this effect is determined by their social support, academic func-tioning and negative impact of caring, which in turn depends on their familiar functioning and amount of caring activities.
Keywords
Young carers; Informal carers; Life satisfaction; Social support; Family functioning; Academic functioning; Caring activities
Subject
Social Sciences, Psychology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
