Bridging Disciplinary Boundaries (January 11 - 14, 2007)

The September, 2005 National Alliance for Caregiving/United Hospital Fund Report, Young Caregivers in the U.S., reported that at least 1.3-1.4 million children are involved in caregiving activities. This is the first report addressing this issue in the United States, and it indicated that these children are likely to live in single parent and lower income households. Little research has been devoted to the identification and understanding of this phenomenon.

PURPOSE: The purposes of this study were to: 1) identify the demographic characteristics of public school students who reported having the dual role of student-caregiver; 2) describe the extent of students' participation in caregiving activities; and 3) explore the effect of the caregiving role on the academic success of these students.

METHODS: This study used a subset of the existing data file from an anonymous self-report What Works Survey conducted in 2002 among 54 public middle and high schools in Palm Beach County, Florida. There were approximately 84,000 students within grades 6-12 in this county. A total of 12,681 students took the survey which represented a sample of 15.1% of the school system population for the participating grades. A standard systematic selection process for determining student participation in the survey was used. The Family Health Section in the survey involved two questions and two contingency questions assessing caregiving effects.

RESULTS: Out of 11,029 students in grades 6-12 who participated in the survey and completed the questions through the final Family Health Section, 6,714 reported having a family health situation. Nine out of 10 of these students (6,210) responded they assisted with “hands on” helping. Students in 9th grade were more likely to participate in caregiving activities (37.9%) compared to the other grades, and those in 12th grade were the least likely (15.3%). Of the 6,714 students, 38.5% agreed or strongly agreed that living with a person in need of special medical care hindered their learning. In terms of racial and ethnic characteristics of young caregivers, findings indicated that White/Non-Hispanic students were less affected (p<.001) than Black and Hispanic students. Black students appeared to be the most affected whereby 62.7% indicated having a person with special care needs, 43.2% indicated that this situation hinders their leaning, 94.3% participated in care, and 71.9% indicated that their caregiving activities affect their academic performance.

IMPLICATIONS: Little is known about young caregivers and the impact of the dual role of student-caregiver on these children's lives. It is crucial that mental health professionals, particularly social workers, learn to identify young caregivers and understand the impact of this role on their lives. This identification and understanding play a key role in social work practice and will allow social workers to: 1) raise awareness of the special needs of young caregivers; 2) promote understanding of their role within their families; 3) develop support systems to ameliorate the effect of the caregiving responsibilities on these children's socio-emotional and cognitive development; and 4) design and implement appropriate culturally sensitive interventions based on empirical-based evidence.