This research is the first in the UK to match young carers and their perceptions of their health and well being against a comparable sample of young people. By matching the young people in this way, it allows us to draw out the findings that relate specifically to their caring responsibilities so that we can see what impact this can have. It was commissioned in partnership with Carers Trust, Scotland with the support of Scottish Young Carers Services Alliance. A team from Blake Stevenson and the Child and Adolescent Health Research Unit (CAHRU) at the University of St Andrews carried out the research.

A key finding of this report is that the positive aspects of caring are often overlooked. We found that the young carers who completed the survey are in a lower socio-economic group compared with the main young population, for a variety of factors, but that despite their socio-economic circumstances they have greater feelings of self-worth than their counterparts who are not caring for someone at home.