Abstract
We examined child psychiatric diagnoses, behavioral problems, overall symptom impairment, global psychological functioning, intellectual ability, and adaptive behavior in 83 sibling pairs whose mothers were diagnosed with a serious mental disorder. Sibling pairs were assessed for the extent to which they converged on the presence or absence of risk on each adverse outcome and then examined under conditions of high vs. low/moderate family stress. Consistent with the study hypotheses, we found that on each outcome assessed there was evidence for sibling convergence of risk. In addition, family stress was found to significantly moderate sibling risk convergence. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for understanding sibling convergence of risk in these families and for clinical and preventive intervention.
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Tebes, J.K., Connell, C.M., Ross, E. et al. Convergence of Sibling Risk Among Children of Parents with Serious Mental Disorders. J Child Fam Stud 14, 29–41 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-005-1111-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-005-1111-2