Socio-economic disadvantage and childhood disability : Clare Blackburn, Nick Spencer and Janet Read Socio-economic disadvantage and childhood disability Cause or consequence?
Background : Background In UK and many other countries, national data on childhood disability is known to have significant limitations (see for example Mont, 2007; Gordon et al, 2000; Read et al, 2007 and 2009)
Variety of prevalence estimates for UK childhood disability depending on definition of disability, survey methods, populations etc.
Body of UK literature on association between child disability and socio-economic circumstances but is mainly descriptive
Social patterning of childhood disability is under-researched in UK 2
Background : Background Further work needed to understand the nature of the association between childhood disability and socio-economic disadvantage
Understanding the relationship between impairment and social disadvantage is key to public policy development aimed at reducing the prevalence of childhood disability and providing appropriate and timely service provision. 3
Our earlier work : Our earlier work Scoping of UK data sources on disabled children and their households: documented strengths and limitations of existing quantitative data sources
Secondary analysis of key data sources - prevalence estimates and data on characteristics and circumstances of disabled children in UK:
2001 Population Census: 3% sample of anonymised records
Family Resources Survey
Families and Children Study 4
Childhood limiting longstanding illness/disability and socio-economic position in the UK : Childhood limiting longstanding illness/disability and socio-economic position in the UK Secondary analysis of 3% sample of 2001 Population Census
Children with LLTI/disability identified by the question: Does child have any long-term illness, health problem or disability which limits their daily activities or what they are able to do
Indicator of socio-economic position was Office for National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification (NS-SEC) of family reference person. 5
Some key findings : Some key findings From analysis of 3% sample of Population Census (see Spencer, Blackburn and Read, in press)
Relationship of limiting long-term illness (LLTI)/disability in childhood in UK is finely graded with a stepwise increase in prevalence as disadvantage increases
Children in most disadvantaged socio-economic group have a 3.5 times increased odds of LLTI/disability compared to those in most disadvantage groups
Would be a 41% reduction in LLTI/disability across population if all children had same rate of LLTI/disability as most advantage group 6
Logistic regression models fitted on LLTI/disability among children age 0-19 : Logistic regression models fitted on LLTI/disability among children age 0-19
Some key findings : Some key findings From secondary analysis of 2004/5 FRS ( see Read, Blackburn and Spencer 2007):
Association between lone-parenthood and childhood disability: for disabled children, the odds of living with a lone parent were 25% greater than for non-disabled children when other factors controlled for
Association between parental disability and childhood disability: for disabled children, the odds of having a disabled parent were 3 times greater than for non-disabled children when other factors controlled for
In UK, disabled children are significantly poorer than other children: poorest disabled children are those in black and minority ethnic or lone parent households or those with a disabled parent
Further research needed to generate more precise estimates by geographical region and by ethnic group 9
Some further questions arising from our research : Some further questions arising from our research What is the nature of the link between socio-economic disadvantage and childhood disability in high income countries?
Cause or consequence? Does socio-economic disadvantage predispose to childhood disability? How much of disadvantage experienced by households precedes the onset of childhood disability and how much follows it?
Does parental disability precede or follow the experience of parenting a disabled child?
Are households with disabled children and disabled adults further disadvantaged economically by this association? If so by how much?
How is lone parenthood associated with childhood disability in the UK, after adjustment for social disadvantage? To what extent does lone parenthood precede or follow the birth of a disabled child? 10
Developing work : Developing work Systematic review of literature from high income countries on association between socio-economic disadvantage and childhood disability
Further secondary analysis:
3% SAR (Population Census)
Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study: predictors and temporal ordering of factors
Millennium Cohort Study 11
Thank you : Thank you 12