Quality of Life of Schoolchildren Living with a Long-Term Sick Parent: The Role of Tasks at Home, Life Circumstances and Social Support

Simone A. de Roos, Jurjen Iedema and Alice H. de Boer
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Simone A. de Roos: Programme Participation, Talent Development, and Equality of Opportunity, SCP, The Netherlands Institute for Social Research, Bezuidenhoutseweg 30, 2594 AV The Hague, The Netherlands
Jurjen Iedema: Programme Participation, Talent Development, and Equality of Opportunity, SCP, The Netherlands Institute for Social Research, Bezuidenhoutseweg 30, 2594 AV The Hague, The Netherlands
Alice H. de Boer: Programme Participation, Talent Development, and Equality of Opportunity, SCP, The Netherlands Institute for Social Research, Bezuidenhoutseweg 30, 2594 AV The Hague, The Netherlands

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 12, 1-18

Abstract: This study investigates whether there are differences in quality of life—i.e., psychosomatic complaints and life satisfaction—between schoolchildren with and without a chronically ill or disabled parent at home. It also examines the role played by the intensity of tasks, life circumstances, and social support at home and school. In 2017, a Dutch representative sample of adolescents aged between 12 and 16 (from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study) completed a questionnaire about illness of family members, tasks at home, life circumstances and characteristics, social support, psychosomatic complaints and life satisfaction. In total, 5470 schoolchildren who did not have a parent with a chronic illness and 652 who did have a parent with a chronic illness were selected (average age 13.9). Stepwise multilevel logistic regression analyses in STATA were used. Schoolchildren with an ill parent had more psychosomatic complaints and lower life satisfaction than their counterparts without an ill parent, even when controlling for extra task hours, specific life circumstances and characteristics (e.g., more likely to be growing up in a single-parent family or stepfamily and more likely to be female), and lower perceived support. These aspects are also predictors of a lower quality of life. Professionals should address these aspects of the life of schoolchildren with a sick parent in such a way that they are facilitated to make a successful transition to adulthood.

Keywords: schoolchildren; long-term sick parent; life satisfaction; psychosomatic complaints; quality of life; intensity of tasks; social support; young carers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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