Young people who care for a member of their household at age 14-15 years are more likely to experience financial hardship, fall behind at school and miss out on experiences that their peers have access to, according to a new report from the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS).
Compared to their peers, adolescents who care for a household member at least five hours per week were more likely to live in a jobless household from a young age, have significantly lower levels of household income throughout their childhood, and experience financial hardship.
Young carers also took part in fewer out-of-home activities throughout their childhood - for example, going to the library or museum - and were less likely to engage in extra-curricular activities such as music, dance, art classes and team sports.
The research is based on data from Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC), which has been following 10,000 children since 2004.
Professor Ben Edwards at the Australian National University, who completed this research while at AIFS, said there are likely many factors contributing to these findings.
"Parents with health issues, disability or caring responsibilities themselves are likely to face barriers in their access to education and employment opportunities, leading to financial stress," Professor Edwards said.
"A restriction on every day activities for the parent, coupled with financial hardship, may have a flow-on impact to aspects of their children's lives - making outings or participation in after-school activities, that other households might take for granted, too difficult."
Professor Edwards said the longitudinal data also points to where children who later go on to become carers in adolescence start to deviate from their peers in terms of opportunities for cognitive development.
"Children who later became carers were read to at ages 4-5 years far less often than their peers. This may be due to the parent having a health condition that limits their ability to take part in cognitively stimulating activities, or other factors," Professor Edwards said.
"Given reading to young children is arguably the most important at-home activity in terms of developmental outcomes, this is a clear signal to service providers and policy-makers that gaps can start to open up at a very young age for children in households experiencing significant health issues or disability."
As reported in an earlier LSAC report, young male carers were also, after controlling for a wide range of factors, around 1.5 years behind their peers in reading and 1.4 years behind in numeracy - and young female carers were 0.8 years behind in reading compared to their peers.
Professor Edwards said the data points to the need for early years support for families affected by disability, chronic or mental illness as well as increased support for young people with caring responsibilities.
"Caring for a family member can provide many benefits for young people - and this report highlights their enormous resilience. The psycho-social wellbeing of young carers is comparable to their peers despite the challenges young carers face," Professor Edwards said.
"However, caring can impact academic achievement, early participation in extra-curricular activities and, by extension, the opportunities in life for these young people - indicating the need for interventions at an early stage to support their cognitive, social and emotional development."
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data indicates there were 391,300 young carers in Australia, under the age of 25, in 2022. This represents an increase from 235,300 young carers in 2018. However, these estimates are based on a narrower definition of carers than is specified in the Carer Recognition Action 2010 (Cwth) and therefore the numbers are likely to be higher.
AIFS conducts original research to increase understanding of Australian families and the issues that affect them.
