Abstract

As the recognition of young carers’ situation deepens worldwide, a growing number of countries are formulating support policies for young carers. This study examined the impact of care burden on young carers’ preference for social support. We obtained a pooled cross-sectional data set of young carers based on internet surveys throughout Japan, with 816 respondents collected in 2021, and 765 in 2024. We created four aspects of support - emotional, indirect, direct and appraisal, which were categorized based on 10 different specific support options. As for measuring the care burden, we used three measures - types of care provided, overall percentage of care burden, and primary carer role. We further controlled age, gender, relationships and family income source as covariates.

First, we applied a linear probability model and probit model to examine the care effect. Second, we conducted a joint analysis using a multivariate probit model to control for the correlation among the preference for different social support.

We have four main results. First, as the types of care provided increased, preferences for all four aspects of support significantly increased (Coef. = 0.058-0.110). Second, a 10% increase in the overall percentage of care burden was associated with an increase in demanding emotional support (0.023). Third, being a primary carer only positively affected the preference for emotional support (0.146). Fourth, compared with the COVID-19 era, young carers need more support post pandemic, as all four aspects of support significantly increased (0.179-0.339).