Prevalence of childhood disability and the characteristics and circumstances of disabled children in the UK: secondary analysis of the Family Resources Survey

Abstract

BackgroundRobust data on the prevalence of childhood disability and the circumstances and characteristics of disabled children is crucial to understanding the relationship between impairment and social disadvantage. It is also crucial for public policy development aimed at reducing the prevalence of childhood disability and providing appropriate and timely service provision. This paper reports prevalence rates for childhood disability in the United Kingdom (UK) and describes the social and household circumstances of disabled children, comparing these where appropriate to those of non-disabled children.MethodsData were generated from secondary analysis of the Family Resources Survey, a national UK cross-sectional survey, (2004/5) which had data on 16,012 children aged 0-18 years. Children were defined as disabled if they met the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) definition (1995 and 2005). Frequency distributions and cross-tabulations were run to establish prevalence estimates, and describe the circumstances of disabled children. To establish the association between individual social and material factors and childhood disability when other factors were controlled for, logistic regression models were fitted on the dependent variable 'DDA defined disability'.Results7.3% (CI 6.9, 7.7) of UK children were reported by as disabled according to the DDA definition. Patterns of disability differed between sexes with boys having a higher rate overall and more likely than girls to experience difficulties with physical coordination; memory, concentration and learning; communication. Disabled children lived in different personal situations from their non-disabled counterparts, and were more likely to live with low-income, deprivation, debt and poor housing. This was particularly the case for disabled children from black/minority ethnic/mixed parentage groups and lone-parent households. Childhood disability was associated with lone parenthood and parental disability and these associations persisted when social disadvantage was controlled for.ConclusionThese analyses suggest that UK disabled children experience higher levels of poverty and personal and social disadvantage than other children. Further research is required to establish accurate prevalence estimates of childhood disability among different black and minority ethnic groups and to understand the associations between childhood disability and lone parenthood and the higher rates of sibling and parental disability in households with disabled children.

Changing Trends of Childhood Disability, 2001–2011

“…Disadvantaged children continue to have higher absolute rates of disability, which is consistent with other studies and known risk factors. [26][27][28][29][30] However, more advantaged children had a greater relative increases in the prevalence of disability over the study period. For example, disability rates among children in households at .400% of the poverty level rose 28% over the decade, more than twice the rate of growth seen for children in households living below the poverty line.…”

Child labor and severe functioning difficulties and disability in Mexican children and adolescents 5-17 years of age

“…In spite of this, in other studies a higher prevalence of functioning difficulties and disability has also been found in boys and young men as compared to girls. 21,22 Keeping the differences in surveys in mind, a comparison shows that the survey reported on here found a higher prevalence of functioning difficulties and disability in children and adolescents living in homes with female heads of household as well Mother's report of the child ever attending a special education school or a group within a regular school § Schooling-for-age, educational lag indicates students over the normal age for the grade they are currently in as homes where the head of the household has only a primary school education. The domains of severe functioning difficulty and disability with the highest prevalence among Mexican children 5 to 17 years old were experiencing daily anxiety and having difficulty controlling behavior, as well as a somewhat lower prevalence of daily depression.…”

Building a “Module on Child Functioning and Disability”

“…While data collection on childhood disability has generally increased over recent years, these data are still limited and inadequate in terms of description of children with disabilities and their circumstances (Blackburn et al 2010 ), especially in developing countries (UNICEF 2008 ;2013 ). This is due to factors such as the lack of priority given to the disability issue in the political agenda as well as the local fi nancial resources available for data collection.…”