The Impact of Socioeconomic Status on Early-Adulthood Criminal Justice Involvement, Employment, and Education Outcomes Among Youth Living with Disabilities

Background and Purpose:

Youth-adult transitions for students with disabilities who receive special education services or an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) pose unique challenges in obtaining adequate employment, post-secondary education, and avoiding contact with the criminal justice system. These challenges have been attributed to three major hypotheses in the literature: school failure, differential treatment, and individual susceptibility because of their disability. In taking a closer look at how the socioeconomic status of a child with disability may impact key young-adult outcomes, we hope to achieve more comprehensive understanding of mechanisms which drive these challenges. In particular, this study examines students with Autism and other intellectual disabilities, and how socioeconomic status mediates young-adult outcomes in comparison with other disability groups.

Methods:

We perform secondary data analysis using geocoded data from the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2) Waves 1-3. The NLTS2 is a 10-year-long study which began in 2000 measuring the various experiences, characteristics, and outcomes of nationally representative sample of youth ages 13-16 with disabilities who are receiving special education services in the United States (n~11,000). We perform multivariate logistic regression analysis to explore how socioeconomic status mediates young-adult employment, education, and criminal justice involvement. Fixed- and random effect specifications are employed to control for the impact of neighborhood and school-system factors in explaining variation in young adult outcomes.

Results:

Even controlling for specific disability type, socioeconomic status is significantly associated with young-adult outcomes. Youth with disabilities who came from high earning households ($50,000+) were more likely than youth with disabilities from low earning households ($25,000+) to attend a two-year post-secondary school, obtain employment, and to be engaged with education, job training, and employment in general (57 percent vs. 30 percent, 81 percent vs. 61 percent, and 93 percent vs. 75 percent respectively). 

Conclusions and Implications:

The importance of socioeconomic status is well-understood in influencing life outcomes among the general population of children and youth. Family, school, and community pathways for children and youth who live with specific intellectual disabilities has received far less attention from policymakers and the research community. Our specific findings may assist in the design of IEP interventions. This research may also inform families and practitioners regarding specific barriers they may face in providing care and services to different student populations.