Growing up with a chronic illness: social success, educational/vocational distress.
Journal Article (Journal Article)
OBJECTIVES: We compared adult educational, vocational, and social outcomes among young adults with and without childhood-onset chronic illness in a nationally representative U.S. sample. METHODS: We used data from Wave IV (2008) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. We compared respondents who reported childhood-onset cancer, heart disease, diabetes, or epilepsy with young adults without these chronic illnesses in terms of marriage, having children, living with parents, romantic relationship quality, educational attainment, income, and employment. Multivariate models controlled for sociodemographic factors and adult-onset chronic illness. RESULTS: As compared with those without childhood chronic illness, respondents with childhood chronic illness had similar odds of marriage (odds ratios [OR] = .89, 95% CI: .65-1.24), having children (OR = .99, 95% CI: .70-1.42), and living with parents (OR = 1.49, 95% CI .94-2.33), and similar reports of romantic relationship quality. However, the chronic illness group had lower odds of graduating college (OR = .49, 95% CI: .31-.78) and being employed (OR = .56, 95% CI: .39-.80), and higher odds of receiving public assistance (OR = 2.13, 95% CI: 1.39-3.25), and lower mean income. CONCLUSIONS: Young adults growing up with chronic illness succeed socially, but are at increased risk of poorer educational and vocational outcomes.
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Maslow, GR; Haydon, A; McRee, A-L; Ford, CA; Halpern, CT
Published Date
- August 2011
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 49 / 2
Start / End Page
- 206 - 212
PubMed ID
- 21783055
Pubmed Central ID
- PMC3414253
Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
- 1879-1972
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2010.12.001
Language
- eng
Conference Location
- United States