America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2011

Activity Limitation

Activity limitation refers to a person's inability, due to a chronic physical, mental, emotional, or behavioral condition, to participate fully in age-appropriate activities. Age-appropriate activities for children ages 5–17 consist of a child's ability to complete regular school work and perform other activities, including self-care and walking. Activity limitation is a broad measure of health and functioning affected by a variety of chronic health conditions. The causes of activity limitation most often reported by parents of children ages 5–17 include learning disabilities, speech problems, and other mental, emotional, and behavioral problems.¹³¹

Indicator Health5: Percentage of children ages 5–17 with activity limitation resulting from one or more chronic health conditions by gender, 2000–2009

• In 2009, 9 percent of children ages 5–17 were reported by parents to have activity limitation due to chronic conditions. Eight percent of children ages 5–17 were identified as having activity limitation solely by their participation in special education, and 2 percent had limitations in their ability to walk, care for themselves, or participate in other activities.
• Activity limitation, particularly when identified only by participation in special education, was reported more often for male (10 percent) children than for female (5 percent) children.
• In 2009, approximately 12 percent of children living below the poverty level and 11 percent of children living in families with incomes 100–199 percent of the poverty level had activity limitation, compared with 8 percent of children with family incomes 200 percent or more of the poverty level.
• Among children of different racial and ethnic origins, Hispanic (8 percent) children were less likely than White, non-Hispanic and Black, non-Hispanic (10 percent each) children to have a parental report of activity limitation.

 HEALTH5 HTML Table