Centre for Policy on Ageing



Early caregiving and adult depression — good news for young caregivers
Author(s)	Kim Shifren
Journal title	The Gerontologist, vol 41, no 2, April 2001
Pages	pp 188-190
Keywords	Family care ; Children ; Adults ; Depression ; Well being ; United States of America.
Annotation	Limited information is available on the effects of caregiving experiences on the adult development of caregivers under 21 years old in the United States. The current study examined the effects of youthful caregiving on the mental health of these people when adults. To be included, respondents must have provided primary caregiving assistance for at least one parent when the caregiver was under 21 years old. Twelve such individuals, aged 23 to 58 were given brief phone interviews with semi-structured questions; they then completed questionnaires on their early caregiving experiences and current mental health. The findings showed that individuals were young caregivers for parents with a number of problems, ranging from dementia to drug abuse. They reported more positive than negative mental health, and only two had scores indicative of clinical depressive symptoms. It appears that early caregiving experiences may not result in universally negative consequences in adulthood. (KJ/RH).
Accession Number	CPA-010622212 A
Classmark	P6:SJ: SBC: SD: ENR: D:F:5HH: 7T
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.