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The Post-High School Outcomes of Youth With Disabilities up to 4 Years After High School
NCSER 2009-3017
April 2009

Household Circumstances of Out-of-High School Youth With Disabilities

Markers on the path to adult life typically have included financial and residential independence and self-sufficiency, marriage, relationships, and parenting (Hogan and Astone 1986; Modell 1989; Rindfuss 1991).

  • Within the first few years of leaving high school, 25 percent of youth with disabilities had lived independently (on their own or with a spouse, partner, or roommate), and 6 percent had lived semi-independently (primarily in a college dormitory or military housing).
  • When youth were asked about their satisfaction with their current living arrangement, 58 percent reported being satisfied with their residential arrangement. Those who lived independently or semi-independently were more than twice as likely to be satisfied with their residential arrangement as those who lived with their parents (45 percent vs. 17 percent).
  • Seventy-three percent of youth with disabilities who were age 18 or older reported ever having had sexual intercourse.
  • Of those who had ever had sexual intercourse, 70 percent reported that they or their partner used a condom the last time they had intercourse, and 87 percent reported having used any contraception.
  • Eleven percent of youth with disabilities reported having had or fathered a child by the time they had been out of high school for up to 4 years. Seven percent of males reported having fathered a child and 18 percent of females reported having had a child.
  • Ten percent of youth with disabilities were married or living in a marriage-like relationship.
  • Fifty-six percent of youth with disabilities had a savings account, 46 percent had a checking account, and 28 percent had a credit card in their own name. Eightynine percent had annual individual incomes (or for those living with a spouse, household incomes) of $25,000 or less.