Description

SSIKID identifies "children" (in this case, persons under age 18) who received Supplemental Security Income (SSI) during the previous calendar year. These recipients may have received SSI payments themselves directly as beneficiaries, or the payments may have been made to a parent or guardian on behalf of the child beneficiary.

While the ASEC CPS for these years generally defined "children" as persons under age 15, government programs such as SSI use the more common definition of "child" as persons under age 18 when defining eligibility for benefits. Thus, some of the "children" identified in SSIKID as the beneficiaries of SSI would be defined as "adults" by other CPS variables, such as POPSTAT.

Persons under age 18 may qualify for SSI on the basis of being blind, severely disabled, or for other reasons, such as living with an SSI-eligible parent (SSI Caretaker Supplement benefits). Children with disabilities qualify for SSI payments only if the income and resources of the child and co-resident family members fall within eligibility limits. By contrast, only the income and resources of the individual are evaluated when deciding whether an adult (age 18 and over) meets the financial limits for SSI.

Comparability

The universe for this variable changed between 2001 and 2002. In 2001, only persons 17 and under in a household where at least one person under 18 received Supplemental Security Income are in universe. In all years, persons between 15 and 17 who have a positive value for INCSSI are not in universe for SSIKID.

The variables WHYSSI1 and WHYSSI2 report the first and second reasons why individuals age 15 and older received SSI income, including payments on behalf of a child beneficiary. For persons age 15 and older, the total amount of Supplemental Security Income received during the previous calendar year is reported in INCSSI. Dollar amounts for Supplemental Security Income payments to a child beneficiary under age 15 are included in a parent's or guardian's reported SSI income for INCSSI; dollar amounts for SSI payments to a "child" beneficiary are included in the reported SSI income for the individual if the "child" is age 15 and older.

Universe

Flags

Unharmonized Variables

• UH_SSIKIDYN_A1