Abstract
The present study examined 97 adolescent siblings of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), or no disabilities. Siblings reported on their feelings toward their brother or sister (anxiety, hostility, and positive affect), and parents reported on general optimism, child behavior problems, and perceptions of how the child impacts the family, including the sibling. There were no differences between siblings of individuals with ASD and siblings of individuals with IDD on any sibling self-reported feelings toward their brother or sister, though parents of individuals with ASD reported significantly less optimism and more negative perception of the child’s impact on the family than did parents of children with IDD or no disability.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the participants and their families. The data for the present study was original collected as part of Dr. Shivers’ doctoral dissertation.
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Dr. Shivers conceived of the study, collected the data, and participated in manuscript preparation. Mrs. McGregor conducted statistical analyses and participated in manuscript preparation.
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Both Dr. Shivers and Mrs. McGregor declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
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This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.
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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
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Shivers, C.M., McGregor, C.M. Brief Report: Sibling Feelings Toward their Brother or Sister With or Without Autism or Intellectual Disability. J Autism Dev Disord 49, 404–409 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-3694-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-3694-7