Absence of conflict of interest.
Citation
Highlights
- The study's objective was to examine the impact of the Youth Transition Demonstration (YTD) project on public benefits receipt, employment, and earnings outcomes. This profile focuses on the study conducted in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The authors investigated similar research questions for other sites, the profiles of which can be found here.
- The study was a randomized controlled trial that assigned eligible youth to the treatment or control group. The primary data sources were a baseline survey and administrative data sets from government agencies. The author used a series of statistical tests to compare the differences in outcomes between treatment and control group members.
- The study found that significantly more youth in the YTD program than the control group were receiving Social Security Income, either Social Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Insurance (DI), or both SSI and DI program services two years after random assignment.
- This study receives a high evidence rating. This means we are confident that the estimated effects are attributable to the Youth Transition Demonstration (YTD) project, and not to other factors.
Intervention Examined
Youth Transition Demonstration (YTD)
Features of the Intervention
The Youth Transition Demonstration (YTD) aimed to help youth with disabilities manage their transitions to adulthood and identify interventions to improve educational and vocational outcomes for youths receiving or potentially qualifying for Social Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) benefits. The Social Security Administration (SSA) implemented the YTD at several sites in the United States.
Miami-Dade County Broadened Horizons, Brighter Futures (BHBF) in Florida operated one YTD program. The program served youth between the ages of 16 and 22, who were receiving SSI or DI benefits, and lived in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The Miami-Dade County BHBF YTD program site provided youth with both group and individualized services. Individual services consisted of financial literacy training, career preparation services, career placement services, and goal planning. Group services consisted of job fairs. Youth were eligible for the full set of services for 18 months and were eligible for select follow-up services as needed.
Features of the Study
The study was a randomized controlled trial. Between April 2008 and September 2010, 840 youth were recruited for the study. Of the eligible youth, 448 were randomly assigned to the treatment group and 392 were randomly assigned to the control group. The treatment group received the full Miami-Dade County BHBF YTD program for the duration of 18 months with limited follow-up services available as needed. Treatment group youth were also eligible for certain waivers allowing them to keep more of their earnings without affecting their SSI payments. Youth in the control group were subject to standard SSA earnings rules and received standard employment services that would normally be available to youth in the BHBP program in Florida. Study participants were predominantly male (60%), age 18 or older (83%), with a primary disability of other mental disorder (45%) or intellectual disability (33%). The primary data sources were a baseline survey on the background characteristics of youth, SSA Master Earnings File for W-2 derived earnings, Supplemental Security Record and Master Beneficiary Record for program participation histories for SSI and DI recipients, and the Numerical Identification System file for dates of death. The author used a series of statistical tests to compare differences in outcomes between treatment and control group members.
Findings
Public Benefits Receipt
- The study found that significantly more participants in the treatment group than the control group received SSI benefits, either SSI or DI benefits, or both SSI and DI benefits 24 months after random assignment.
- The study found that neither treatment nor control group youth earnings exceeded the substantial gainful activity (SGA) limit that would result in a reduction of benefit receipt.
- The study found that participants in the treatment group received significantly higher amounts of average SSA program payments than the participants in the control group 24 months after random assignment.
Employment
- The study found no significant difference in employment rates between youth in the treatment group and the control group 24 months after random assignment.
Earnings and Wages
- When comparing annual earnings among all participants, the study did not find any significant differences in the dollar amount earned by youth in the treatment group when compared to the control group.
- When comparing annual earnings only among participants with earnings, the study did not find any significant differences in the dollar amount earned by youth in the treatment group when compared to the control group.
Considerations for Interpreting the Findings
There are a few things to consider when interpreting the results from the current study. First, the author estimated many related impacts on earnings and public benefit receipt outcomes. Performing multiple statistical tests on related outcomes makes it more likely that some impacts will be found statistically significant purely by chance and not because they reflect program effectiveness. The author did not perform statistical adjustments to account for the multiple tests, so the number of statistically significant findings in these domains is likely to be overstated. Additionally, the study reports a less stringent statistical significance level for some findings, considering p-values of less than 0.10 to be significant, though it is standard practice to consider statistical significance if the p-value is less than 0.05. Only results that demonstrate a p-value of less than 0.05 are considered statistically significant in this profile.
Causal Evidence Rating
The quality of causal evidence presented in this report is high, because it is based on a well-implemented randomized controlled trial. This means we are confident that the estimated effects are attributable to the Youth Transition Demonstration project, and not to other factors.