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5 Poverty and Childhood Disability
Pages 105-124

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From page 105...
... Therefore, in addition to comparing trends in the prevalence of mental disorders among those receiving SSI benefits to trends of these disorders in the general child population, this chapter and the remainder of the report present trends in the prevalence of mental disorders that take into account the population of children who are living in poverty. Parts III and IV of this report present trends in an additional comparison group that is socioeconomically more comparable to the Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
From page 106...
... As a result, more children with disability owing to mental disorders would have met the poverty criterion for SSI benefits. This means that an increase in the percentage of children with mental health disorders on SSI may not reflect an increase of mental health disorders, but may instead arise from an increased percentage of children with these disorders meeting the poverty threshold for SSI eligibility.
From page 107...
... . Official national figures on poverty are based on the Annual Social and Economic Supplement to the Current Population Survey.
From page 108...
... The patterns, regardless of source, suggest that there was an increasing pool of children who would be eligible for income-conditioned programs during the Great Recession of the 21st century. How Child Poverty Is Represented in the SSI Program for Children with Disabilities Because of income and resource eligibility criteria, nearly all children who are recipients of SSI disability benefits come from households that are poor or near poor.
From page 109...
... In 2008 and in 2014 the SSA published research and statistics notes on the characteristics of noninstitutionalized disability insurance and SSI program participants in the years 2002 and 2010, respectively. To generate better information on the economic characteristics of SSI recipients, the SSA used validated Social Security numbers to match SSI disability administrative records to data from the Census Bureau's Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP)
From page 110...
... As such, an increase in the rates of poverty could reasonably be expected to precede or predict an increase in the rates of applications and determinations for disability benefits. Figure 5-2 shows the number of allowances and determinations for the 10 major mental disorders from 2004 to 2013; Figure 5-3 shows the number of children (in thousands)
From page 111...
... NOTE: The Current Population Survey table creator was used to generate numbers of children below 100 percent and 200 percent of the federal poverty level. ­ arameters P used to generate the numbers include get count of: persons in poverty universe (every­ ne except unrelated individuals under 15)
From page 112...
... Any analysis of the potential causes of the change observed in the SSI program for mental disorders in children should account for the variation in the number of children living in poverty. Calculating allowances, determinations, and recipients as a percentage of the number of children in low-income households for each year is a simple way of controlling for the effects of variations in child poverty rates on the SSI program.
From page 113...
... Figures 5-5 and 5-6 further illustrate the effect of differences in the severity of child poverty on the rate of allowances and recipients for the 10 major mental disorders. Figure 5-5 shows that the rate of allowances is higher for applicant families that have less income and resources.
From page 114...
... # of (initial) Children Under Under 200 Children Under Child Child Child 200 Percent Percent FPL 200 Percent FPL Allowances Determina- Recipients # of Children FPL Allowed Determined Recipients of SSI for 10 Major tions for 10 for 10 Major in Households SSI for 10 for 10 Major Benefits for 10 Mental Major Mental Mental Under 200 Major Mental Mental Major Mental Year Disorders Disorders Disorders Percent FPL Disorders Disorders Disorders 2004 93,401 211,191 540,051 28,753,000 0.32% 0.73% 1.88% 2005 90,554 210,316 562,402 28,539,000 0.32% 0.74% 1.97% 2006 83,707 198,857 577,091 28,757,000 0.29% 0.69% 2.01% 2007 80,465 197,612 583,947 28,999,000 0.28% 0.68% 2.01% 2008 85,447 203,522 587,618 30,064,000 0.28% 0.68% 1.95% 2009 91,739 215,813 600,115 31,505,000 0.29% 0.69% 1.90% 2010 97,778 240,506 615,772 32,254,000 0.30% 0.75% 1.91% 2011 98,571 256,867 631,602 32,678,000 0.30% 0.79% 1.93% 2012 93,132 249,152 647,555 32,269,000 0.29% 0.77% 2.01% 2013 84,307 225,667 654,370 31,364,000 0.27% 0.72% 2.09% NOTE: The Current Population Survey table creator was used to generate numbers of children below 200 percent of the federal poverty level.
From page 115...
... did not vary substantially over the period because there was little change in the number of allowances relative to the overall number of children. Figure 5-6 shows how the rate of recipients of SSI benefits for the 10 major mental disorders in children in low-income households is sensitive to differences in the severity of child poverty.
From page 116...
... under-18 population. NOTE: The Current Population Survey table creator was used to generate numbers of children below 100 percent, 150 percent, and 200 percent of the federal poverty level.
From page 117...
... . Data on childhood disability suggest that the proportion of children experiencing disability is steadily increasing, regardless of the definition used.
From page 118...
... Similar findings exist for a wide range of childhood conditions, such as cystic fibrosis, spina bifida, and congenital heart disease. Among higher-prevalence conditions, such as obesity and asthma, although these conditions affect children in all socioeconomic status groups, the prevalence is higher and the course of the disorder more severe in lowerincome households.
From page 119...
... There are both direct and indirect effects. Households with children with chronic health conditions face higher costs for caring for the children as well as decreased household income when parents leave the workforce or decrease their paid workload to care for a child with a disability (National Commission on Childhood Disability, 1995)
From page 120...
... • Neither the total number of child mental disorder allowances of SSI benefits nor the rate of allowances among children in poverty increased during the 2004–2013 decade. In fact, the total number of allowances was approximately 10 percent lower in 2013 than in 2004.
From page 121...
... CONCLUSIONS • Poverty is a risk factor for child disability, including disability as sociated with mental disorders. At the same time, child disability is a risk factor for family poverty.
From page 122...
... 2010. Lifetime prevalence of mental disorders in U.S.
From page 123...
... 2010. Double jeopardy: What social risk adds to biomedical risk in understanding child health and health care utilization.


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