Children who had experienced stressful life events by disability status U.S. 2019

As of 2019, around 81.5 percent of U.S. children had not experienced a stressful life event such as exposure to violence in their neighborhood, the incarceration of a parental or guardian, or ever having lived with anyone who was mentally ill or severely depressed, or with an alcohol or drug problem.
The rate of children with a disability experiencing two or more stressful events was 18.6 percent. In comparison, about 6.5 percent of children with no disability had experienced two or more stressful life events. This graph shows the percentage of U.S. children aged 5 to 17 who had experienced no, one, or more stressful life events as of 2019, by disability status.

Percentage of U.S. children 5 to 17 years who had experienced no, one, or more stressful life events as of 2019, by disability status

Characteristic	Total	With a disability	Without a disability
No stressful life events	81.5%	64.1%	83.9%
One stressful life event	10.5%	17.3%	9.6%
Two or more stressful life events	8%	18.6%	6.5%

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Release date

January 2022

More information

Region

United States

Survey time period

2019

Age group

18 years and older

Special properties

Respondents were a knowledgeable adult, usually a parent

Method of interview

Face-to-face interviews, telephone interviews

Supplementary notes

"Four stressful life events are considered: exposure to violence in the neighborhood, parental or guardian incarceration, ever having lived with anyone who was mentally ill or severely depressed, and ever having lived with anyone with an alcohol or drug problem.
Estimates are based on household interviews of a sample of the civilian, noninstitutionalized U.S. population"

"Disability is defined by the reported level of difficulty (no difficulty, some difficulty, a lot of difficulty, or cannot do at all/unable to do) in 13 core functioning domains: seeing, hearing, mobility, self-care, communication, learning, remembering, concentrating, accepting change, controlling behavior, making friends, anxiety, and depression. Children who are reported to have “a lot of difficulty” or “cannot do at all” in at least one domain of functioning or with “daily” anxiety or depression are considered to have disability."

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