Well Sibling Psychological Adjustment to Chronic Physical Disorder in a Sibling: How Important is Maternal Awareness of Their Illness Attitudes and Perceptions?

Abstract

The psychological adjustment of healthy siblings was investigated in relation to their attitudes and perceptions about their brother's or sister's chronic physical disorder, to their mothers' awareness of these attitudes and perceptions, and to three other maternal factors (maternal distress, maternal social support, and amount of care demanded by the physical disorder). Sixty-two well siblings and mothers of children with a range of chronic physical disorders completed standardised questionnaires. The majority of siblings did not appear to have adjustment problems, although the sample had slightly increased rates of emotional symptoms compared to the general population. Mothers rated well siblings as having more negative attitudes and perceptions about the physical disorder than reported by siblings themselves. A multiple regression analysis indicated that better sibling adjustment was associated with higher maternal awareness of their attitudes and perceptions. These findings support Varni and Wallander's (1998) model that emphasises the role of relationship and attitude variables in child adjustment to chronic physical disorder. The implications of these findings for clinical practice are discussed.

Discordance Between Sibling and Parent Reports of the Impact of Chronic Illness and Disability on Siblings

“…Among discordant dyads, it was more typical for parents to report higher levels of concerns for siblings than siblings reported for themselves. This finding is consistent with other studies of sibling adjustment to life with a child with CI/DD (Hodapp et al, 1997;Taylor et al, 2001).…”

“…A low level of agreement existed between sibling and parent reports of changes in sibling behavior and feelings, with siblings reporting a significantly higher number of changes than parents reported. Two studies examined the relationship between parent and sibling reports of sibling adjustment to CI/DD (Hodapp, Wijma, & Masino, 1997;Taylor et al, 2001) utilizing the Sibling Perception Questionnaire (SPQ; Sahler & Carpenter, 1989), a measure originally designed to assess adjustment of siblings to cancer. Hodapp et al (1997) studied families of children with cri-du-chat syndrome and found that parents reported the child's condition to impact the siblings' interpersonal relationships significantly more than siblings themselves reported.…”

“…Hodapp et al (1997) studied families of children with cri-du-chat syndrome and found that parents reported the child's condition to impact the siblings' interpersonal relationships significantly more than siblings themselves reported. In their study of siblings (ages 8 to 16) of children with a variety of CI/DD conditions, Taylor et al (2001) examined whether parent awareness of sibling concerns was related to sibling adjustment or to other aspects of parent or family functioning. In the Taylor et al study, the format of the SPQ was altered from a Likert scale to a categorical yes-no scale.…”

“…Furthermore, based on the limited literature available on parents and siblings of children with CI/DD (Hodapp et al, 1997;Taylor et al, 2001), we hypothesized that parents would report more negative adjustment for siblings than siblings would report for themselves. Given the paucity of prior research, however, we did not generate specific hypotheses regarding how parent-sibling concordance or discordance would relate to other individual or family characteristics.…”

'Young Carers' and Disabled Parents: Time for a change of direction?

“…Nonetheless, a number of robust studies have found as many positive outcomes for children in helping care for a disabled sibling as negative ones (Gallo et al, 1992;Meyer, 1997;Stawski et al, 1997;McHugh, 1999). Where studies utilise control groups, few differences are detectable between children who grow up with disabled siblings and those who do not (McHale & Harris, 1992;Burton & Parks, 1994;Taylor et al, 2001). Where differences are detected:…”