Abstract

“This analysis uses data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) to examine whether veteran and disability statuses are jointly associated with poverty and material hardship among households that include an older adult. Compared to households that do not include a person with a disability or veteran, disabled nonveteran households are more likely to be in poverty and to experience home hardship, medical hardship, and bill-paying hardship. Disabled veteran households are not significantly different in terms of poverty, but exhibit the highest odds of home hardship, medical hardship, bill-paying hardship, and food insufficiency. The implications for social work practice are discussed.”

Implications

For Practice

Members of both disabled and nondisabled veteran households that are experiencing poverty and/or any type of material hardship should reach out to the VA, local veterans groups, and/or social service agencies for support. Social workers routinely evaluate economic well-being when they are coordinating care for, providing services to, and advocating on behalf of older adults and their families. When doing so, social workers should consider whether a household contains members who are disabled and/or veterans given that both statuses jointly shape their clients’ needs. Social workers with veteran clients should be mindful of the resources and support that they might be able to access through the VA. Social workers whose practice focuses on organizing community-level programs and designing educational outreach programs should remain mindful of the potentially unique fiscal needs of households with disabled veterans. Social service providers and local veterans groups should consider working together to better facilitate the distribution of information and improve service delivery to disabled veteran households.

For Policy

Given the findings that disability and veteran statuses jointly affect material hardship net of income-to-needs and other control variables, the VA might adjust its current income support programs to allow for better coverage and support for disabled veterans. Since income support alone might not be sufficient to help veteran households, the VA might also examine how it can offer additional supports to mitigate material hardships among veteran families. Policymakers might continue funding programs that address the broad range of hardships families can encounter, including bill-paying hardship, food insuffiency, and home hardship. In addition, increased coordination of VA benefits with federal or state programs would improve the supports provided to older adult households experiencing poverty and material hardship.

For Future Research

Despite the significant contributions of this study to the current literature on aging and life course, several limitations exist. The households examined in this study might differ in relation to unobserved factors that influence the risk of poverty and material hardship. Future research should aim to theorize and empirically evaluate the extent to which the associations documented in the study persist when other potentially confounding factors are taken into account. Factors other researchers should take into account include: region of residence; working history of household members; receipt of particular Veterans Affairs benefits; and participation in specific federal or state programs, including SNAP, SSI, Social Security Disability Insurance, and Medicaid. Future studies should also consider how the effects of older-adult poverty and material hardship impact family members who provide social, instrumental, and economic support, as well as the communities in which older adults reside.