Excerpts from an Analysis of the 1994-95 NHIS-D

Fact Sheet 3: Marital status of non-institutionalized people in the National Health Interview Survey

 
Adults with MR/DD* Estimated N in Population    %  
Currently Married   205  270,008  14.0% 
Formerly Married **   186  243,122  12.6%  
Never Married  1071  1,409,384  73.3%  
 
Adults without MR/DD*   Estimated N in Population   %  
Currently Married   93,030  121,753,185   60.1% 
Formerly Married ** 

24,846 

31,422,345  15.5%
Never Married     36,792 49,285,135   24.3% 

* Divorced, Legally Separated, or Widowed

This table shows a comparison of the marital status of persons with mental retardation and/or developmental disabilities (MR/DD) and persons without MR/DD.  The estimates are based on a total sample of 1,462 people with MR/DD.  This table includes only those persons who do not live in institutional settings or who are in the military.  Persons with MR/DD reported that they had never married 73.3% of the time.  Further analysis shows that males with MR/DD are more likely to never marry 75.5% than are females with MR/DD.

Analysis by Lynda L. Anderson, M.A., M.P.H., Research and Training Center on Community Living, University of Minnesota, 210 Pattee Hall, 150 Pillsbury Drive SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455.  For more information call Lynda at (612) 626-7765.

To see the definitions used for mental retardation or developmental disabilities or the methods used to identify those people in the NHIS see Larson, S.A., Lakin, K.C., Anderson, L., Kwak, N., and Lee, J.H. (2000).  Prevalence of Mental Retardation or Developmental Disabilities: Analysis of the 1994/1995 NHIS-DS. MR/DD Data Brief 1 (2).  Minneapolis: Research and Training Center on Community Living, University of Minnesota.

Excerpts from Analysis of the 1994-1995 NHIS-D: Fact sheets are published periodically by the Research and Training Center on Community Living and Institute on Community Integration (UCEDD), College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota. Funding for this data analysis was provided by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, U.S. Department of Education through a NIDRR-funded Field Initiated project (Cooperative Agreement No. H133G020037). All analyses, interpretations, and conclusions are those of the authors.