Income trajectories of families raising a child with a neurodisability
The study examines household income trajectories over six years for families raising children with and without neurodisabilities, revealing that families with neurodisabled children consistently have lower incomes, despite overall income growth. The research highlights the importance of parental work status, indicating that income disparities may not apply to non-working parents. The findings suggest that rehabilitation services and policies should address the economic challenges faced by these families.
College of Health researcher(s)
Abstract
Purpose
To examine household income trajectories of children with and without neurodisability over a period of 6 years.
Method
We used four cycles of the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, a longitudinal study of the development and well-being of Canadian children from birth into adulthood.
Results
While household income increased over time for both groups, families of children with neurodisability had consistently lower household income compared to families of children without neurodisability even after controlling for child and family socio-demographic characteristics. The presence of an interaction effect between parent work status and child with neurodisability at baseline indicated that among children whose parent(s) were not working at baseline, household incomes did not differ between children with and without neurodisability.
Conclusions
The association between child with neurodisability and lower household income may not hold for all types of parents’, working status is an important consideration.
Implications for Rehabilitation
- Findings support the health selection hypothesis that health status shapes diverging economic conditions over time: children with a ND have lower household incomes than children without a ND child across all waves of the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Youth.
- Income gaps did not increase or decrease over time; rehabilitation services and policies must consider the lower average incomes associated with raising a child with a ND.
- Social assistance support likely plays a key role in closing the gap, especially for non-working families.