Understanding the Impacts of Childhood Disability: Effects on Maternal Health Outcomes

Abstract

This project studies the impact of various childhood disabilities on different measures of maternal health. Using the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), I create models that separate different types of childhood disabilities and low test scores to look at both short- and long-term impacts on maternal well-being. The linear probability models include many variables to control for socioeconomic differences between mothers, and they maintain a sense of temporal ordering. The fixed effects models address the potential endogeneity of childhood disability while also controlling for time-invariant differences between mothers. The results from these models suggest that the impact of childhood disability on maternal health is dependent on the type of disability, and severe childhood disabilities do not show significant negative impacts on maternal health. These results are important in the discussion of ableism and the societal stigma and perception of individuals with disabilities in the United States.