The Relationship of Household Income and Education Level With Postschool Outcomes of Youth With Disabilities

• In Event: 65.073 - Disability, Poverty, and Postschool Outcomes: Exploring School and Family Influences

Abstract

Research suggests that youth with disabilities are significantly less likely than nondisabled peers to achieve many of the markers of a successful postschool transition (Newman et al., 2011), particularly among those from lower socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds (e.g., Alivernini & Lucidi, 2011; Ansary, McMahon, & Luthar, 2012).This presentation will use National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 data to examine the relationship between two key components of SES—family income and head of household (HOH) education level—with post-high school outcomes of youth with disabilities and the extent to which youth and family factors mediate SES effects.

The study included NLTS2 participants who had at least one wave of parent/youth interview data post high school (approximately 5,630 youth). Income, HOH education level, and three postschool outcome measures (2-or 4-year college, CTE school enrollment and obtaining competitive employment) came from parent/youth telephone interviews/mail surveys conducted every 2 years (2001-2009).Potential mediators of the SES-outcome relationship (e.g., parental expectations for college attendance, youth’s functional cognitive skills) also relied on parent reports. A youth’s primary disability category was designated on rosters of students receiving special education services under the auspices of participating school districts.

Bivariate relationships of household income and HOH education with post-school outcomes were explored, and differences between independent subgroups were examined, with findings mirroring relationships identified by other researchers; students from lower SES household were less likely to achieve positive outcomes (Corak, Lipps, & Zhao, 2005; Newman et al., 2011). The presentation then will address the degree to which the SES-outcome relationship is mediated by such factors as gender, race/ethnicity, and the nature and severity of a youth’s disability. Results indicate that the direct effect of SES on outcomes, in the presence of covariates, was statistically significant but relatively small. Mediation analyses demonstrate that the effect of SES on outcomes was mediated to a sizable extent by other factors. Analyses also demonstrate that each covariate had its own significant relationships with outcomes and may reveal more about variations in them than the primary focus on SES reveals.

References
Alivernini, F., & Lucidi, F. (2011). Relationship between social context, self-efficacy, motivation, academic achievement and intention to drop out of high school: A longitudinal study.
Journal of Educational Research, 104(4), 241-252.

Ansary, N. S., McMahon, T. J., & Luthar, S. S. (2012). Socioeconomic context and emotional-behavioral achievement links: Concurrent and prospective associations among low and high income youth. Journal on Research on Adolescence, 22(1), 14-30.

Corak, M., Lipps, G., & Zhao, J. (2005). Family income and participation in post-secondary education. In C. Beach, R. Boadway & M. McInnis (Eds.), Higher education in Canada. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press.

Newman, L., Wagner, M., Knokey, A., Marder, C., Nagle, K., Shaver, D., & Wei, X. (2011). The post-high school outcomes of young adults with disabilities up to 8 years after high school: A report from the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2). Menlo Park, CA: SRI International.

Authors

• Mary M. Wagner, SRI International

• Lynn A. Newman, SRI International