A Population-Based Study of the Behavioral and Emotional Adjustment of Older Siblings of Children with and without Intellectual Disability

Nikita K Hayden,Emma Langley,Vasiliki Totsika,Richard P Hastings

doi:10.1007/s10802-018-00510-5

Abstract

This is the first study on the behavioral and emotional adjustment of siblings of children with intellectual disabilities (ID) to use a population-based sample, from the third wave of the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS); a UK longitudinal birth cohort study. We examined differences between nearest-in-age older siblings (age 5–15) of MCS children (likely mainly with mild to moderate ID) identified with ID (n = 257 siblings) or not (n = 7246 siblings). The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) measured all children’s adjustment. For SDQ total problems, 13.9% of siblings of children with ID and 8.9% of siblings of children without had elevated scores (OR 1.65; 95% CI 1.04, 2.62; p = 0.031). Similar group differences were found for SDQ peer and conduct problems. In logistic regression models, variables consistently associated with older sibling adjustment were: adjustment of the MCS cohort child, older sibling being male, family socio-economic position, primary carer psychological distress, and being from a single parent household. The ID grouping variable was no longer associated with adjustment for all SDQ domains, except siblings of children with ID were less likely to be identified as hyperactive (OR 0.30; 95% CI 0.10, 0.87; p = 0.027). Some older siblings of children with ID may be at additional risk for behavioral and emotional problems. Group differences were related mainly to social and family contextual factors. Future longitudinal research should address developmental pathways by which children with ID may affect sibling adjustment.

Highlights

There is a range of existing research exploring developmental outcomes for children who have a brother or sister with a disability, including intellectual disability (ID), current research is both inconsistent and contradictory in answering whether these siblings of children with ID are at an increased risk of poorer outcomes – as might be predicted from family systems theory (Kovshoff et al 2017)
No statistically significant group differences were found for elevated levels of hyperactivity (OR = 0.65; 95% CI 0.33, 1.30; p = 0.217), limitations in prosocial behavior (OR = 1.23; 95% CI 0.85, 1.79; p = 0.269), and emotional problems (OR = 1.21; 95% CI 0.70–2.10; p = 0.500)
The present study explored whether there were group differences in behavioral and emotional adjustment between older siblings of children with and without ID using a UK population-representative sample

Summary

Introduction

There is a range of existing research exploring developmental outcomes for children who have a brother or sister with a disability, including intellectual disability (ID), current research is both inconsistent and contradictory in answering whether these siblings of children with ID are at an increased risk of poorer outcomes – as might be predicted from family systems theory (Kovshoff et al 2017). A number of studies have identified more behavioral and emotional problems in siblings of children with disability compared to other children or to normative samples (Hastings 2003; Verté et al 2003; Ross and Cuskelly 2006; Orsmond and Seltzer 2007; Goudie et al 2013). Other researchers found little or no group difference (Cuskelly and Gunn 2006; Hastings 2007; Howlin et al 2015). There is a distinct lack of representative population-based studies in this area. The strength of such studies is they are less affected by referral or self-referral biases and may allow conclusions about the whole population of siblings, or the whole population of siblings of children with ID.

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