Demographic and Socioeconomic Characteristics of Parents With Disabilities in the United States and Their Risk of Poverty: Cross-Sectional Analysis of 2016

Abstract

People with disabilities are increasingly becoming parents, but population estimates of parents with disabilities vary. Also, there is very little information about the life circumstances of parents with disabilities. This study uses the American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year data, 2016–2020, to explore the prevalence and life circumstances of disabled parents in the United States. Findings indicate that there are roughly 65.9 million parents in the United States, and about 4.4 million have a disability. Parents with any disability are more likely to live below 100% of the poverty line (27.30%) compared to nonparents with disabilities (17.74%), parents without disabilities (11.38%), or nonparents without disabilities (9.30%). Even after adjustment for sociodemographic characteristics and potentially protective factors such as program participation, the risk of poverty remains elevated (relative risk [RR] = 1.93, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.91–1.95, p < .001) for parents with any disability. Disparities persist across each of six disability types. Additional research is critical to inform program and policy development.

Keywords

parents parenting poverty

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Demographic and Socioeconomic Characteristics of Parents With Disabilities in the United States and Their Risk of Poverty: Cross-Sectional Analysis of 2016–2020 American Community Survey

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