Adults With Disabilities More Often Lack the Emotional Support They Need

In 2021, 6.9% of U.S. adults said they rarely or never got the social and emotional support they needed, according to the National Health Interview Survey. The share was much higher among adults with a disability: 11.7%, against 6.4% of those without one.

Adults 18 and over who rarely or never get the social and emotional support they need, by sex and disability status, 2021, with 95% confidence intervals. CDC, National Center for Health Statistics.

• Among people with a disability, men and women were about equally likely to lack support.
• Among people without one, men were more likely than women to lack it.

How it was measured

Adults were asked how often they get the social and emotional support they need: always, usually, sometimes, rarely or never. They were counted as having a disability if they reported a lot of difficulty, or could not do at all, at least one of six things: seeing (even with glasses), hearing (even with hearing aids), walking or climbing stairs, communicating, remembering or concentrating, and self-care such as washing or dressing. The estimates come from household interviews with a sample of the civilian, non-institutionalised population.

Sources

• Basilica Arockiaraj and Amanda E. Ng, "QuickStats: Percentage of Adults Aged ≥18 Years Who Rarely or Never Get the Social and Emotional Support They Need, by Sex and Disability Status — National Health Interview Survey, United States, 2021," MMWR. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7247a4.htm
• National Center for Health Statistics, National Health Interview Survey, 2021.