How are Scotland's young carers #CopingWithCaring? New report

Date: 6th March 2017
Category: Young carers

A study published by the Commissioner explores the mental health and wellbeing of young carers in Scotland, revealing that more than 1 in 4 are caring on their own.

'Coping is difficult, but I feel proud: Perspectives on mental health and wellbeing of young carers' is the first study of its kind in Scotland to match young carers and their perceptions of their health and wellbeing against a comparable sample of young people without caring responsibilities. It finds that young carers with the highest caring responsibilities:

• tend to report more negative health effects than those with lower levels of caring,
• are generally less happy,
• report more stress-related issues, and
• more are more likely to report sleep difficulties

Other findings from the study include that:

• one in four young carers are looking after more than one person in their household,
• being a young carer is not all negative -- young carers have greater feelings of self-worth than their counterparts who do not have caring responsibilities,
• young carers are in a lower socioeconomic group when compared with their counterparts who do not have caring responsibilities.
• more than a quarter of young carers - 27% - are the sole carer for those they care for,
• more than half of young carers - 51% - at least occasionally have overnight care responsibilities, and
• more than one in three young carers - 40% - have, at least occasionally, to dress or undress the person they care for.
• Read the full report here.