IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fip/fedbwp/96574.html

The Impact of Learning Disabilities on Children and Parental Outcomes: Evidence from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics

Author

Abstract

We document the characteristics of children and young adults identified in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics as having a learning disability and study whether legislative changes in diagnosis criteria have had a noticeable effect determining who receives a diagnosis. We further document that children and young adults identified as a having a learning disability experience less desirable outcomes early in life, including trouble with the police, drug use, violent behavior, incarceration, self-reported low levels of well-being, lower educational attainment, and less favorable labor market outcomes. We also find that the mothers of children diagnosed with learning disabilities are less likely than other mothers to participate in the labor market.

Suggested Citation

  • Rachel Cummings & María Jose Luengo-Prado, 2023. "The Impact of Learning Disabilities on Children and Parental Outcomes: Evidence from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics," Working Papers 23-7, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedbwp:96574
    DOI: 10.29412/res.wp.2023.07
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.bostonfed.org/publications/research-department-working-paper/2023/the-impact-of-learning-disabilities-on-children-and-parental-outcomes.aspx
    File Function: Summary
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.bostonfed.org/-/media/Documents/Workingpapers/PDF/2023/wp2307.pdf
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.29412/res.wp.2023.07?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eric A. Hanushek & John F. Kain & Steven G. Rivkin, 2002. "Inferring Program Effects for Special Populations: Does Special Education Raise Achievement for Students with Disabilities?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(4), pages 584-599, November.
    2. Søren Albeck Nielsen, 2021. "How to Cope with Dyslexia: The Effects of Special Education on Academic Performance, Personality Traits, and Well-being," Economics Working Papers 2021-13, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    3. McGee, Andrew, 2011. "Skills, standards, and disabilities: How youth with learning disabilities fare in high school and beyond," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 109-129, February.
    4. Eva Deuchert & Lukas Kauer & Helge Liebert & Carl Wuppermann, 2017. "Disability discrimination in higher education: analyzing the quality of counseling services," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(6), pages 543-553, November.
    5. Elizabeth Setren, 2021. "Targeted vs. General Education Investments: Evidence from Special Education and English Language Learners in Boston Charter Schools," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 56(4), pages 1073-1112.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Eva Deuchert & Lukas Kauer & Helge Liebert & Carl Wuppermann, 2017. "Disability discrimination in higher education: analyzing the quality of counseling services," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(6), pages 543-553, November.
    2. Sallin, Aurelién, 2021. "Estimating returns to special education: combining machine learning and text analysis to address confounding," Economics Working Paper Series 2109, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    3. Aur'elien Sallin, 2021. "Estimating returns to special education: combining machine learning and text analysis to address confounding," Papers 2110.08807, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2022.
    4. Keslair, Francois & Maurin, Eric & McNally, Sandra, 2012. "Every child matters? An evaluation of “Special Educational Needs” programmes in England," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 932-948.
    5. Battaglia, Marianna & Lebedinski, Lara, 2015. "Equal Access to Education: An Evaluation of the Roma Teaching Assistant Program in Serbia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 62-81.
    6. Jacob M. Markman & Eric A. Hanushek & John F. Kain & Steven G. Rivkin, 2003. "Does peer ability affect student achievement?," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(5), pages 527-544.
    7. Amy Ellen Schwartz & Bryant Gregory Hopkins & Leanna Stiefel, 2021. "The Effects of Special Education on the Academic Performance of Students with Learning Disabilities," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(2), pages 480-520, March.
    8. Iversen, Jon Marius Vaag & Bonesrønning, Hans, 2015. "Conditional gender peer effects?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 19-28.
    9. Claudia Olivetti & Eleonora Patacchini & Yves Zenou, 2020. "Mothers, Peers, and Gender-Role Identity," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 18(1), pages 266-301.
    10. Solomon Polachek, 2003. "Mincer's Overtaking Point and the Life Cycle Earnings Distribution," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 1(4), pages 273-304, December.
    11. Jeremy Clark & Susmita Roy Das & Andrea Menclova, 2017. "Evaluating the Effectiveness of School Funding and Targeting Different Measures of Student Disadvantage: Evidence from New Zealand," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 93(303), pages 576-599, December.
    12. Friesen, Jane & Krauth, Brian, 2011. "Ethnic enclaves in the classroom," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 656-663, October.
    13. Francois Keslair & Eric Maurin & Sandra McNally, 2011. "An Evaluation of “Special Educational Needs” Programmes in England," CEE Discussion Papers 0129, Centre for the Economics of Education, LSE.
    14. Timothy J. Halliday & Sally Kwak, 2007. "Bad Apples, Goody Two Shoes and Average Joes: The Role of Peer Group Definitions in Estimation of Peer Effects," Working Papers 200730, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    15. Ryan Bacic & Angela Zheng, 2022. "Income-Achievement Gaps in Canada," Department of Economics Working Papers 2022-04, McMaster University.
    16. Kivinen, Aapo, 2018. "The Effect of Relative School Starting Age on Having an Individualized Curriculum in Finland," Working Papers 104, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    17. Eugster, Beatrix & Balestra, Simone & Liebert, Helge, 2017. "The Effect of School Starting Age on Special Needs Incidence and Child Development into Adolescence," CEPR Discussion Papers 12515, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    18. Bergman, Peter, 2018. "The Risks and Benefits of School Integration for Participating Students: Evidence from a Randomized Desegregation Program," IZA Discussion Papers 11602, IZA Network @ LISER.
    19. Bethencourt, Carlos & Santos, Daniel, 2025. "Gender-role identity in adolescence and women fertility in adulthood," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).
    20. Stephanie G. Coffey & Joshua Goodman & Amy Ellen Schwartz & Leanna Stiefel & Marcus A. Winters & Yunee H. Yoon, 2026. "Special Education Substantially Improves Learning: Evidence from Three States," NBER Working Papers 34998, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:fip:fedbwp:96574. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Spozio (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/frbbous.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.