Coming of Age on the Margins: A Life Course Perspective on the Time-Use of Australian Adolescents with Disabilities

Abstract

Adolescents with disabilities experience multiple disadvantages spanning health, education, social capital, and emotional and cognitive development. Time-use may be an important determinant of these outcomes, but links between disability and adolescent time-use have not been adequately explored by previous research. Utilizing nationally representative time diary data for a cohort of Australian adolescents aged 10-15, this paper addresses this gap by comparing the time-use of adolescents with disabilities to their peers without disability. We further investigate how disability-related gaps in time use differ by sex and age. Our results suggest that effects of disability on adolescent time-use are widespread and substantial in magnitude, particularly for boys and for older adolescents. Adolescents with disabilities spend more time alone and with their mothers, and boys with disabilities spend less time with peers. Gaps in time spent alone and with peers increase in magnitude for older adolescents. Time spent in activities also differs markedly: adolescents with disabilities spend less time in educational activities (schooling, homework, and lessons) and, for boys, structured leisure activities. Conversely, adolescents with disabilities spend more time on screen-based leisure activities. The gap in screen based leisure increases in magnitude at older ages, with the increase driven primarily by time spent in video games. We conclude that differential time-use is a plausible mechanism contributing to multiple disadvantages experienced by adolescents with disabilities over the life course, and that boys and older adolescents with disabilities are likely to be most affected.