Hirst, M.

Objectives: To estimate annual changes and trends in the population of informal carers and to investigate transitions to caregiving by age, gender, locus of care, and level of involvement.

Design: Longitudinal analysis of data from the British household panel survey, 1991 to 1998, an annual prospective survey of a nationally representative sample of more than 5000 private households in England, Scotland, and Wales.

This study investigates whether transitions into and out of unpaid caregiving are associated with increased risk for onset of or delayed recovery from psychological distress, and traces the prevalence of distress across successive years of caring activity and after caregiving has ceased. The analysis is based on data from the British Household Panel Survey covering 3000 would-be carers, 2900 former carers, and 11,100 non-carers during the 1990s; their psychological well-being was assessed at annual intervals using the General Health Questionnaire.

Background This paper examines recent trends in inequalities in psychological distress associated with the provision of unpaid care by those who look after frail older people and younger disabled adults and children. Caring activities intensified during the 1990s, associated with increasing amounts of time devoted to the more demanding types of care and to those relationships that typically make heavy demands on the carer.