Abstract
Siblings play an important role in psychological and relational development in the lifecycle, especially if the family includes brothers or sisters with intellectual disability. The main objective of this study was to examine whether the relationships experienced by siblings of people with intellectual disability (ID-sibs) and siblings of people with typical development (TD-sibs) influence their ways of coping with stress and anxiety level, with particular emphasis on gender differences. The participants were 187 adults, of whom 104 (55.6%) were females aged 18 to 76 years (M = 29.42; SD = 11.93). Of our sample, 51.9% (N = 97) had a sibling with an intellectual disability and 48.1% (N = 90) had a sibling with typical development. The participants completed a self-report questionnaire that assessed demographics, sibling-relationship quality, anxiety, and coping orientations to problems experienced. The results show that women report a higher quality of relationship with ID-sibs compared to men and to women who have TD-sibs. The results further indicate that women with ID-sibs had higher levels of anxiety and used Transcendent-Oriented coping strategies more frequently. Lastly, gender moderated the relation between relationship quality and coping strategies in diverse ways in the two groups considered. The implications of the overall results are that sibling-focused interventions should focus on improving negative sibling relationships in order to reduce the impact of difficulties on TD siblings of both genders and that the content and delivery framework of interventions should be shaped accordingly.
Highlights
Siblings play an important role in psychological and relational development in the lifecycle, especially if the family includes brothers or sisters with intellectual disability
We considered the following research questions: 1) whether intellectual disability (ID)-siblings exhibit higher anxiety and a better relationship quality compared to typical development (TD)-siblings; 2) whether the quality of the sibling relationship correlates with coping strategies and anxiety; 3) and whether gender influences the levels of anxiety and coping strategies that are put into place
ID-sibs showed a positive correlation with anxiety as a State, while in the TDsibs group there was a positive correlation with problem-oriented coping strategies and those oriented towards transcendental and spiritual aspects
Summary
Siblings play an important role in psychological and relational development in the lifecycle, especially if the family includes brothers or sisters with intellectual disability. The implications of the overall results are that sibling-focused interventions should focus on improving negative sibling relationships in order to reduce the impact of difficulties on TD siblings of both genders and that the content and delivery framework of interventions should be shaped . Siblings of Adults With Intellectual Disabilities: The Moderating Role of Gender in Coping Strategy, Anxiety, and Relationship Quality. Children who grow up with siblings with intellectual or developmental disability may assume responsibilities and roles that belong to adult caregivers Assuming such roles and responsibilities can have negative effects on the child’s development that may last into adult life (Hooper, Decoster, White, & Voltz, 2011; Tomeny, Barry, Fair, & Riley, 2017), especially anxiety and stress (Tomeny et al, 2017) in adult siblings with typical development (TD). Sisters tend to take more care of their siblings with ID (Orsmond & Seltzer, 2007), in line with the cultural stereotype that sees women as the persons who are most involved in providing care in the family setting (Orsmond & Seltzer, 2000)
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