Research Paper
Mental health trajectories of young people after disability onset

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dhjo.2010.08.001Get rights and content

Abstract

Background

Young people with disabilities are at greater risk of having mental health problems than are their nondisabled peers. Most research about the relationship between disability and mental health has been cross-sectional and unable to identify mental health status prior to onset of disability or possible mental health pathways following disability. There is a lack of information, therefore, about what happens to young people’s mental health when they become disabled.

Objective

This study aimed to identify the mental health trajectories for young Australian adults after onset of self-reported disability, taking into account their predisability mental health status.

Methods

Longitudinal data from waves 1 to 7 (2001 to 2007) of the survey of Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) were analyzed using a growth mixture modeling approach.

Results

Three distinct mental health trajectories were identified for the 136 young people reporting onset of ongoing disability. The majority (64.7%) of respondents experienced positive mental health before and following onset of disability. However, a significant minority (35.3%) experienced either (a) low mental health both prior to and following onset of disability (19.1%) or (b) mental health deterioration following onset of disability (16.2%).

Conclusion

Targeting appropriate interventions to the young people with disabilities in these 2 groups could have a significant impact on enduring mental health status.

Section snippets

Data

The data used in this study are a subset of the first 7 waves (2001 to 2007) of the survey of Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) [35], [36], [37]. Beginning with 7500 Australian households in 2001, HILDA is a nationally representative, nonrefreshed panel survey conducted annually for households with respondents of age 15 years or older. HILDA response rates have improved over 7 years from 66% to 95%. Data collection consists of an interview and a self-completion

The appropriate number of latent classes

The special unconditional GMM fit statistics suggested that a multiclass model with both linear and quadratic factors for the young people’s mental health trajectories was preferable to a single-class model. While a 4-class model was shown to be statistically tenable, closer inspection suggested that a 3-class model was appropriate. This is because 2 classes had similar characteristics in the 4-class model and, as one of these classes contained only a few individuals, a 3-class model was deemed

Principal findings

This study has demonstrated the value of examining mental health status both immediately prior to and following onset of disability to better understand the impact of disability on mental health status. In doing so, the findings demonstrate that young people who report disability do so from different starting points in relation to their mental health. One group of young people report very low mental health prior to disability onset, while the other 2 groups report mental health close to the

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    Financial disclosure: This study was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant. The 4 authors report no conflict of interest. This article uses unit record data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. The HILDA Project was initiated and is funded by the Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) and is managed by the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research (MIAESR). The findings and views reported in this article, however, are those of the authors and should not be attributed to either FaHCSIA or the MIAESR.

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