The relationship between disability and parental status: a register study of the 1968 to 1970 birth cohorts
2021 (English)In: BMC Public Health, E-ISSN 1471-2458, Vol. 21, no 1, article id 343
Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Background: Having children is a major life course event yet some disabilities could make it biologically challenging and some others could limit access to necessary socioeconomic resources. To date, there is relatively little data on disability and parental status and our study aimed to investigate this relationship.
Methods: This longitudinal cohort study was based on register data obtained from all people born in Sweden from 1968 to 1970 (n = 440220). We performed descriptive analyses, graphical plots, logistic regression, and Cox regression analyses.
Results: Our findings from both logistic regression and Cox regression indicated that individuals that started to receive disability benefits at an early age had reduced chances of having children during the follow-up duration. Men with disabilities were less likely to have children when compared to women with disabilities and to men and women without disabilities.
Conclusions: We found evidence that disability during early adulthood was associated with reduced chances of having children. Findings support policies and programmes aimed at promoting optimal health during early adulthood, as this would promote continued labour force participation, reduce early use of disability benefits, and possibly improve chances of becoming a parent.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
BioMed Central, 2021. Vol. 21, no 1, article id 343
Keywords [en]
Child, Children, Disability, Disability benefits, Disability pension, Early retirement, Fertility, Having children, Parental status, Parenthood, Parenting
National Category
Public Health, Global Health, Social Medicine and Epidemiology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-180981DOI: 10.1186/s12889-021-10371-1ISI: 000619746000006Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85101003450OAI: oai:DiVA.org:umu-180981DiVA, id: diva2:1534197
Projects
DISTIME
Part of project
Liveable disabilities: Life courses and opportunity structures across time, Europeiska unionen – Horizon 2020
Funder
EU, Horizon 2020, 647125Marcus and Amalia Wallenberg Foundation, 2019.00032021-03-052021-03-052023-09-05Bibliographically approved