Competitive integrated employment for youth with disabilities: Aligning measurement with conceptualization using latent growth curve modeling

PURPOSE: Although existing research has generated a wealth of information related to employment for individuals with disabilities, a major limitation is that common measurements of employment do not fully capture the scope of the optimal outcome specified in public policies, namely, competitive integrated employment. Therefore, we aimed to describe the change and stability in multiple aspects of employment for youth with disabilities from high school age to mid-30s under the structural equation modeling framework. METHODS: We identified a sample of 1,921 youth with disabilities who were at least 18 years old in 2003 from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth– 1997. We estimated a series of latent growth curve models to assess trajectories of job quality, indicated by hourly pay, and stability, indicated by weekly work hours, over a period of 15 years. RESULTS: Trajectories of job quality and stability did not covary or load on a common factor, but there was substantial variability within the sample in both the intercept and slope of these two constructs, which were best captured by a cubic growth curve, and partially explained by health condition and several demographic variables. CONCLUSIONS: Competitive integrated employment comprises of multiple components which should ideally be considered along a time dimension. Future studies need to assess validity of the measurement model with a different sample and incorporate another important component of competitive integrated employment, that is, whether work is carried out at an integrated setting.