Developmental Disabilities and Socioeconomic Outcomes in Young Adulthood

Citation

Queiros, Fernanda C.; Wehby, George L.; & Halpern, Carolyn Tucker (2015). Developmental Disabilities and Socioeconomic Outcomes in Young Adulthood. Public Health Reports, 130(3), 213-221. PMCID: PMC4388219

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: We assessed the associations between developmental disabilities and indicators of socioeconomic outcomes (i.e., educational attainment, employment status, occupation type, subjective perception of socioeconomic status [SES], income, and wage rate) among young U.S. adults aged 24-33 years.
METHODS: We used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (n=13,040), a nationally representative study of U.S. adolescents in grades 7-12 during the 1994-1995 school year. Young adult outcomes (i.e., educational attainment, employment status, income, occupation, and subjective SES) were measured in Wave IV (2008 for those aged 24-33 years). Multivariate methods controlled for sociodemographic characteristics and other relevant variables.
RESULTS: Nearly 12% of this sample presented with a physical or cognitive disability. Respondents with physical disabilities had lower educational attainment (odds ratio [OR] = 0.69, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.57, 0.85) and ranked themselves in lower positions on the subjective SES ladder (OR=0.71, 95% CI 0.57, 0.87) than those without a physical disability. Compared with individuals without disabilities, young adults with a cognitive disability also had lower educational attainment (OR=0.41, 95% CI 0.33, 0.52) and, when employed, were less likely to have a professional/managerial occupation (OR=0.50, 95% CI 0.39, 0.64). Young adults with disabilities also earned less annually (-$10,419.05, 95% CI -$4,954.79, -$5,883.37) and hourly (-$5.38, 95% CI -$7.64, -$3.12) than their non-disabled counterparts.
CONCLUSION: This study highlights the importance of considering multiple developmental experiences that may contribute to learning and work achievements through the transition from adolescence to young adulthood.

URL

http://www.publichealthreports.org/issueopen.cfm?articleID=3340

Reference Type

Journal Article

Year Published

2015

Journal Title

Public Health Reports

Author(s)

Queiros, Fernanda C.
Wehby, George L.
Halpern, Carolyn Tucker

PMCID

PMC4388219

ORCiD

Halpern - 0000-0003-4278-5646