Disability Differences Across Outcome Domains

Youth who differ in their disability category demonstrate different patterns of early postschool experiences, as noted below.

• Youth With Learning Disabilities or Other Health Impairments
• Youth With Emotional Disturbances
• Youth With Mental Retardation or Multiple Disabilities
• Youth With Hearing or Visual Impairments

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Youth With Learning Disabilities or Other Health Impairments

• About three-fourths of out-of-school youth with learning disabilities or other health impairments have completed high school, almost all of those with a regular diploma.
• Among out-of-school youth with learning disabilities or other health impairments, 87 percent and 78 percent, respectively, have been engaged in school, work, or preparation for work since leaving high school, and about 45 percent were currently employed at the time of the Wave 2 interview.
• Among youth with learning disabilities or other health impairments, 27 percent and 33 percent, respectively, were expected by their parents "definitely" to go on to postsecondary education after high school, and 33 percent and 37 percent of the two groups have done so within 2 years of leaving high school. Enrollment in 2-year colleges is most common (22 percent and 31 percent).
• Youth with learning disabilities or other health impairments have experienced among the broadest changes in their leisure-time and friendship pursuits, with significant reductions in passive leisure activities. For example, 45 percent and 47 percent of the two groups, respectively, indicated watching television was a primary leisure activity in Wave 1, rates that dropped by 33 and 31 percentage points in Wave 2. They also experienced increases in seeing friends at least weekly; approximately one-third of the two groups reported this frequency of seeing friends in Wave 1, whereas 56 percent of youth with learning disabilities and 47 percent of youth with other health impairments do so in Wave 2.

• Although these two groups of youth are among the most likely to be registered to vote (about 70 percent are), they also have experienced 20- and 28-percentage-point declines, respectively, in participation in organized groups, from Wave 1 rates of 48 percent and 54 percent. Volunteer activities also are less common; there have been 20- and 25- percentage-point decreases from Wave 1 rates of 47 percent and 56 percent.
• Youth in these categories are second only to youth with emotional disturbances in the likelihood of being involved with the criminal justice system (e.g., 50 percent and 52 percent, respectively, have been arrested), and those with other health impairments show the only significant increase in arrest rates in the 2 years between Waves 1 and 2 (19 percentage points), reaching a rate of 35 percent.

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Youth With Emotional Disturbances

• Youth with emotional disturbances are the most likely youth with disabilities to be out of secondary school at Wave 2 (36 percent), with 44 percent of those leaving school without finishing, the highest dropout rate of any disability category. School completers with emotional disturbances also are among the least likely to be reported by parents to have graduated with a regular diploma (86 percent).
• Thirty-five percent of youth with emotional disturbances no longer live with parents, the largest of any category of youth with disabilities, and they are the only group to show a significant increase in the likelihood of living in "other" arrangements (from less than 1 percent to 6 percent), including in criminal justice or mental health facilities, under legal guardianship, in foster care, or homeless.
• Youth in this category have experienced the largest increase in their rate of parenting; 11 percent of youth with emotional disturbances report having had or fathered a child, a 10-percentage-point increase from Wave 1.
• One-third of these youth have not found a way to become engaged in their community since leaving high school; for those who have, employment is the usual mode of engagement. Although more than 6 in 10 youth with emotional disturbances have been employed at some time since leaving high school, only about half as many were working at the time of the Wave 2 interview.
• About one in five youth with emotional disturbances have been enrolled in any kind of postsecondary education since leaving high school.
• Youth with emotional disturbances are among the most likely to see friends often (52 percent report doing so at least weekly), yet they are among the least likely to take part in organized community groups (22 percent) or volunteer activities (20 percent) or to be registered to vote (52 percent).
• More than three-fourths have been stopped by police other than for a traffic violation, 58 percent have been arrested at least once, and 43 percent have been on probation or parole. These rates have not changed significantly since Wave 1.

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Youth With Mental Retardation or Multiple Disabilities

• Relatively few 15- through 19-year-olds in these categories are out of school (19 percent and 14 percent, respectively), consistent with their tendency to remain in high school until they reach age 21 (U.S. Department of Education 2003). Youth in these categories who have left high school are among the least likely to have completed high school (72 percent and 65 percent), and within the group of completers, they are among the least likely to be reported by parents to have graduated with a regular diploma (84 percent and 91 percent).
• Their rates of engagement in school, work, or preparation for work shortly after high school (52 percent and 54 percent) are at the low end of the disability category distribution, yet youth with mental retardation are as likely as any other category of youth to be living on their own (16 percent) and to be parenting (12 percent). Relatively few have driving privileges (21 percent and 45 percent) or checking accounts (10 percent and 28 percent).
• Multivariate analysis indicates that, independent of other differences between them, youth with multiple disabilities are 17 percentage points less likely to see friends often than youth with learning disabilities.
• Youth with mental retardation and those with multiple disabilities also are among the least likely to take part in organized community groups (24 percent and 23 percent) or volunteer activities (23 percent and 29 percent) up to 2 years after leaving high school.

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Youth With Hearing or Visual Impairments

• Ninety percent or more of youth with hearing or visual impairments finish high school, virtually all reportedly with a regular diploma.
• Youth with hearing or visual impairments are more than twice as likely as youth with disabilities as a whole to have enrolled in a postsecondary school; about two-thirds have done so up to 2 years after high school. Further, they are the most likely to attend a 4-year college or university; about 4 in 10 have enrolled in such schools, a rate four times that of youth with disabilities as a whole.
• Unlike youth with disabilities as a whole, youth with these sensory impairments show no significant decline over time in their participation in organized community groups or volunteer activities; almost twice as many of them volunteer (47 percent of each group), compared with youth with disabilities as a whole. They are as likely to be registered to vote (64 percent and 62 percent) as any other category of youth with disabilities.
• Within 2 years of leaving high school, the rates of criminal justice system involvement are low for these groups of youth (e.g., 12 percent and 6 percent, respectively, have been arrested), as are their parenting rates (3 percent and 2 percent).

Despite these experiences being similar for youth with hearing and visual impairments, their experiences with friends and jobs differ.

• Youth with hearing impairments are significantly less likely than youth with disabilities as a whole to get together with friends frequently (32 percent vs. 52 percent), a difference not observed for youth with visual impairments.
• In contrast, multivariate analyses show that, irrespective of other differences in disability, functioning, and demographics, youth with visual impairments are 21 percentage points less likely to be employed currently than youth with learning disabilities; there is no difference in the probability of employment between youth with learning disabilities and those with hearing impairments.
• More than 80 percent of youth with hearing impairments who are age-eligible have driving privileges, compared with fewer than 20 percent of youth with visual impairments.

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