An examination of stressors in siblings of children with autism

Objective Throughout the studies on siblings of children with autism, no clear consensus had been reached about whether there are negative, positive, or no effects on the sibling relationship when a sibling has autism. When siblings of children with autism are compared with siblings of neurotypical children they tended to show greater risk for negative psychological and behavioral outcomes, such as poor adjustment and higher rates of depression (Bagenholm & Gillberg, 1991; Gold, 1993; Mailack-Seltzer, Greenberg, Osmond, & Lounds, 2005). Other studies, however, have reported that siblings of children with autism were well rounded with positive self-concepts, high levels of social competence, and healthy academic and behavioral adjustment (Ferrari, 1984; Gold, 1993; McHale, Sloan & Simeonsson, 1986). This is an additional study to further assess the stressors reported by siblings of children with autism with those reported by children who have typically developing siblings to determine whether the former present with unique and/or a greater amount of stressors in their sibling relationships.;Design This study uses an exploratory quantitative research design intended to answer the following questions: Are the number of stressors that siblings of children with autism experience more frequent or severe than siblings of typically developing children? What is the effect of gender in the sibling dyad on the frequency or severity of stressors reported by each sibling group and what are the positive aspects of having a sibling with autism?;Participants Forty total siblings of children with autism and siblings of typically developing children were recruited. Participants were 48% boys and 52% girls in the sibling with autism group (9 boys and 11 girls) and 50 % boys and 50% girls in the siblings of neurotypical children group (10 boys and 10 girls). Children ranged in age from 9-years- old to 14- years-old and had no more than one other sibling besides the sibling of focus for the study. The siblings were no more than four years older than the identified sibling with autism or the typically developing sibling.;Measures T-scores on Youth Self Report were compared to see how many fell in the clinical range for each population (Achenbach, T. M. & Rescorla, L. A. 2001).;Results Frequencies of stressors/problems reported by siblings in the two groups were analyzed for significant differences using an independent samples t-test. Another independent samples t-test was used to assess differences on the measures of children's recall of daily activities and interactions with their siblings (Sibling Inventory of Behavior). The aforementioned analyses found that siblings of children with autism do not present with stressors that are unique to their sibling relationships when compared to siblings of neurotypical children. Overall typically developing siblings viewed their relationship with their sibling with autism in a positive way as was seen by the results on the SIB and they did not regard the relationship as any more negative than a relationship with a typical sibling. This information can help clinicians understand more fully what siblings of children with autism may be experiencing and use this information to develop successful treatment interventions for this population. Moreover, clinicians should consider strengths and not assume that the relationship is going to be problematic. These results show that families of children with autism may possess factors of family resilience that were not predicted.