Penn Bioethics Seminar (PBS): Youth Caregivers in the United States: Prevalence and the Association Between Caregiving and Education

Youth Caregivers in the United States: Prevalence and the Association Between Caregiving and Education

Katherine Miller, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, MEHP, PSOM

Family caregivers are the primary providers of long-term care in the United States yet there are limited federal policy supports, despite the known short- and long-term negative impacts of caregiving. Limited information about the prevalence of youth/young adult caregivers, their characteristics, or the impacts of caregiving at formative ages exists in the US. Our objective is to estimate the prevalence of youth caregivers and examine the association of caregiving with educational investments. We use the American Time Use Survey (2013-2019) to identify and describe youth caregivers (aged 15-18) and young adult caregivers (aged 19-15) compared to non-caregiving peers. We estimate 985,988 youth caregivers and 1,897,952 young adult caregivers, which corresponds to approximately 4.1% and 4.7% of the population in these age groups, respectively. Compared to non-caregiving peers, both youth and young adult caregivers are less likely to be enrolled in school and, among those enrolled in school, spend significantly less time on educational activities. Considering the association of caregiving among youth/young adults and education, policies supporting youth/young adult caregivers are critical.