In 2021, 6.9% of adults aged ≥18 years rarely or never got the social and emotional support they needed. Overall, the percentage was higher among those with a disability (11.7%) than among those without disability (6.4%). Among men, 11.3% of those with disability rarely or never got needed support, compared with 7.0% of those without disability. Among women, 12.1% of those with disability rarely or never got needed support, compared with 5.9% of those without disability. The percentage of women and men with disability who rarely or never got the support needed was similar but was higher for men compared with women among those without disability.
Source: National Center for Health Statistics, National Health Interview Survey, 2021. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis/index.htm
Footnotes
With 95% CIs indicated by error bars.
Based on a response to the questions, “How often do you get the social and emotional support you need? Would you say always, usually, sometimes, rarely, or never?”
Disability was defined by the reported level of difficulty to questions about six domains of functioning: “Do you have any difficulty… seeing, even if wearing glasses; hearing, even if wearing hearing aids; walking or climbing stairs; communicating, for example understanding or being understood; remembering or concentrating; and self-care, such as washing all over or dressing.” Response categories were “no difficulty,” “some difficulty,” “a lot of difficulty,” or “cannot do at all.” Adults who responded “a lot of difficulty” or “cannot do at all” to at least one domain were classified as with disability.
Estimates are based on household interviews of a sample of the civilian, noninstitutionalized U.S. population.