Sibling Dyads Research Articles

A Sibling-Mediated Intervention for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Using the Natural Language Paradigm (NLP).

We taught three typically developing siblings to occasion speech by implementing the Natural Language Paradigm (NLP) with their brothers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A non-concurrent multiple baseline design across children with ASD and sibling dyads was used. Ancillary behaviors of happiness, play, and joint attention for the children with ASD were recorded. Generalization of speech for the children with ASD across setting and peers was also measured. During baseline, the children with ASD displayed few target speech behaviors and the siblings inconsistently occasioned speech from their brothers. After sibling training, however, they successfully delivered NLP, and in turn, for two of the brothers with ASD, speech reached criterion. Implications of this research suggest the inclusion of siblings in interventions.

Aggression in Children Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence: A Comparison of Maternal, Sibling, and Observer Perspectives.

The negative effects of exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) on children have been well documented, including externalizing difficulties such as aggression. Although aggressive behavior is a common concern for these children, sibling aggression in children exposed to IPV has rarely been studied. Our purpose was to investigate similarities and differences in multiple informant reports of aggression by siblings exposed to IPV, and to examine how exposure to IPV was linked to these differing perspectives. Forty-seven sibling dyads and their mothers were recruited from the community. Aggression was assessed by observers, by mothers, and by the siblings themselves, whereas IPV was assessed by both maternal and child report. Informants had very differing views on aggression. Regression results indicated that children's reports of their own exposure to IPV accounted for significant variance in observed aggression between siblings, as well as in the maternal reports of aggression by both siblings. Aggression did not vary by sibling age, sex, or age spacing. Results were discussed within a risk and resilience framework.

Big Five personality stability, change, and codevelopment across adolescence and early adulthood.

Using data from 2 large and overlapping cohorts of Dutch adolescents, containing up to 7 waves of longitudinal data each (N = 2,230), the present study examined Big Five personality trait stability, change, and codevelopment in friendship and sibling dyads from age 12 to 22. Four findings stand out. First, the 1-year rank-order stability of personality traits was already substantial at age 12, increased strongly from early through middle adolescence, and remained rather stable during late adolescence and early adulthood. Second, we found linear mean-level increases in girls' conscientiousness, in both genders' agreeableness, and in boys' openness. We also found temporal dips (i.e., U-shaped mean-level change) in boys' conscientiousness and in girls' emotional stability and extraversion. We did not find a mean-level change in boys' emotional stability and extraversion, and we found an increase followed by a decrease in girls' openness. Third, adolescents showed substantial individual differences in the degree and direction of personality trait changes, especially with respect to conscientiousness, extraversion, and emotional stability. Fourth, we found no evidence for personality trait convergence, for correlated change, or for time-lagged partner effects in dyadic friendship and sibling relationships. This lack of evidence for dyadic codevelopment suggests that adolescent friends and siblings tend to change independently from each other and that their shared experiences do not have uniform influences on their personality traits. (PsycINFO Database Record

Are there individual and sibling differences in appraisals of interparental conflict?

Despite decades of empirical literature documenting the harmful effects of frequent, intense, violent, and unresolved interparental conflict on children's adjustment, there is considerable variability in the extent to which marital conflict contributes to the development of children's emotional and behavioral problems. Past research has documented links between properties of interparental conflict itself (e.g., intensity, frequency), children's appraisals of conflict, and children's outcomes, yet less is known about the role of individual and family characteristics in predicting children's conflict appraisals. Sibling studies may be especially helpful in understanding these individual differences yet are notably lacking in marital conflict research. The current study examines individual- and family-characteristic predictors of adolescents' appraisals of conflict in a study of 153 adolescents as well as sibling similarities in conflict appraisals in a subsample of 50 pairs of siblings. Controlling for parent reports of the frequency, intensity, and resolution of interparental conflict, parent-child relationship quality and stressful life events predicted conflict appraisals. In addition, there was nonindependence of sibling appraisals of conflict properties, but self-blame and threat appraisals appeared independent across siblings. Greater discrepancies in siblings' conflict appraisals were related to more negative marital conflict and discrepancies in parent-child relationship quality, and were found in mixed-sex sibling dyads. Implications for future studies on factors that impact children's appraisals of conflict and in particular making use of sibling studies to examine shared environmental and individual influences on appraisals is highlighted. (PsycINFO Database Record

Aggression by Children Exposed to IPV: Exploring the Role of Child Depressive Symptoms, Trauma-Related Symptoms, & Warmth in Family Relationships.

Multi-informant reports of aggression by siblings in families with and without a history of IPV were compared. Associations between aggressive behavior and child depressive and trauma-related symptoms, as well as maternal and sibling warmth were also explored. Mothers, observers and the siblings themselves reported on aggressive behaviour. Mothers reported on child trauma-related symptoms while children provided self-report on depressive symptoms and mother-child and sibling warmth. The frequency of observed aggression did not differ across groups on average, although more sibling dyads exposed to IPV engaged in aggression than those not exposed. Child reports of sibling aggression did not differ across groups but mothers reported significantly less aggressive behavior by children exposed to IPV than those not exposed. Regression results indicated that depressive and trauma-related symptoms were significant risk factors for aggression, while the role of mother-child and sibling warmth was more complex. Results were discussed within a developmental psychopathology framework.

Household and familial resemblance in risk factors for type 2 diabetes and related cardiometabolic diseases in rural Uganda: a cross-sectional community sample

ObjectivesPrevention of type 2 diabetes (T2D) has been successfully established in randomised clinical trials. However, the best methods for the translation of this evidence into effective population-wide interventions remain unclear....

“I'll Show You How to Write My Name”: The Contribution of Naturalistic Sibling Teaching to the Home Literacy Environment

AbstractResearch on the home literacy environment has typically involved parents as teachers with little attention given to siblings’ roles in teaching each other. This study examines naturalistic language and literacy teaching by 39 sibling dyads, at two timepoints, when children were ages 2 and 4 (time 1; T1) and again at ages 4 and 6 (time 2; T2). Each family was observed for a total of six 90‐minute sessions at both timepoints. First, all sibling‐directed teaching sequences were identified, including instances of formal and informal teaching. Second, sequences were coded for evidence of language (i.e., vocabulary, book concepts, songs, phonological awareness) and literacy concepts (i.e., alphabetic principle, reading, writing, spelling). Over 40% of the T1 and T2 teaching sequences involved language and literacy concepts. Older siblings taught the majority of the time at T1 and T2; however, the number of sequences taught by younger siblings increased proportionally over time. Because siblings taught vocabulary concepts significantly most often at both T1 and T2, further analyses were conducted on vocabulary subcategories (i.e., expansion, discussing pictures, relaying word meaning, checking for listener understanding, second‐language instruction). Significantly more teaching sequences involved expansion than other vocabulary subcategories at both timepoints. Finally, at T2, literacy concepts (i.e., writing, spelling) were taught significantly more than at T1. Our findings demonstrate that siblings are interested in teaching each other a variety of language and literacy concepts during naturalistic interactions in the home, indicating that siblings contribute to the richness of the home literacy environment.

And What About Siblings? A Longitudinal Analysis of Sibling Effects on Youth’s Intergroup Attitudes

Within the process of political socialization, the family is of particular importance. Apart from parents, however, little is known about the role of other close family members. The present study examined if siblings affect each other's intergroup attitudes (i.e., intolerance towards immigrants, social dominance orientation). Drawing on a sample of 362 sibling dyads (older siblings: M age = 17.77, 53.6% female; younger siblings: M age = 13.61, 61.3% female), the results showed that older siblings' intergroup attitudes predicted younger siblings' attitudes, but this effect was moderated by gender. Specifically, older siblings' intolerance and social dominance orientation were only found to affect their younger sisters, yet not their younger brothers. Although younger siblings' intergroup attitudes had no main effect on older siblings, a significant moderation by age indicated that younger siblings affected older siblings' social dominance orientation with increasing age. These moderation effects of age and gender were not mediated by the quality of family relationships. The findings also remained the same when parental intergroup attitudes were taken into account. While siblings were generally identified as an important agent of political socialization in youth, the results also highlight the necessity to further examine the mechanism that either facilitate or hinder sibling effects.

Communicative behaviours of sibling dyads composed of a child with autism and a typically developing child

This study documented the communicative behaviors exhibited by sibling dyads comprised of one typically developing child and his/her sibling with autism. Six US families participated in one 45-minute home observation of sibling interactions, a 20-minute semi-structured interview with the typically developing child, and a 20-minute semi-structured interview with the siblings’ parents. Dyads varied across birth order, ages, and genders. Observational data were coded to reveal 38 categories of communicative behaviors and their frequency of occurrence. Interviews yielded information about the siblings’ usual interactions and parents’ perceptions about their children’s relationships. Families provided evidence of sibling support for the communication skills of the child with autism. Findings have implications for siblingmediated facilitation of communicative behaviors in children with autism.

Using video modeling to teach siblings of children with autism how to prompt and reinforce appropriate play

This study investigated the use of video models to teach typically developing children how to prompt and reinforce appropriate play behavior during games with their sibling with autism. With 3 sibling dyads, we extended research on cooperative sibling play by examining video modeling as the sole intervention to facilitate appropriate play between siblings in the absence of specific reinforcement for skills learned in the video model. Video models included brief clips of adults playing games with the child with autism and demonstrating how to prompt and reinforce play behavior. Results indicated that for 2 of the 3 sibling dyads video modeling alone was sufficient to teach prompts and appropriate delivery of reinforcement. An increase in on‐task activity engagement was also observed for both siblings with autism across all 3 dyads.

The Role of the Broader Autism Phenotype and Environmental Stressors in the Adjustment of Siblings of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders in Taiwan and the United Kingdom

The influence of the broader autism phenotype (BAP) on the adjustment of siblings of children with autism has previously been researched mainly in Western cultures. The present research evaluated a diathesis-stress model of sibling adjustment using a questionnaire study including 80 and 75 mother-typically developing sibling dyads in Taiwan and the United Kingdom (UK). UK siblings reported elevated adjustment difficulties compared to the Taiwanese sample and to normative data. Whilst higher BAP levels were generally associated with greater adjustment difficulties, differences were found across cultures and respondents. Although significant diathesis-stress interactions were found, these were in the opposite direction from those predicted by the model, and differed across cultural settings. Implications for culturally-sensitive sibling support are considered.

Maternal Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression and Child Nocturnal Awakenings at 6 and 18 Months.

We aim to estimate the pathways between maternal symptoms of anxiety and depression and child nocturnal awakenings via structural equation modeling using a sibling design. Structural equation modeling on data from 14,926 sibling dyads or triads from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study. At 6 months, we estimated the association between maternal symptoms of anxiety and child nocturnal awakenings to be owing to several nonsignificant pathways. Child nocturnal awakenings at 18 months, however, were influenced by concurrent maternal symptoms of anxiety (β = .10) and depression (β = .12). Neither maternal symptoms of anxiety (β = .04) nor depression (β = -.00) was influenced by concurrent child nocturnal awakenings. Our findings suggest that maternal mental health influences child sleep behavior at 18 months after birth, and not vice versa. This is in support of hypotheses on maternal mental health influencing child sleep during toddlerhood.

Sibling self-management: Programming for generalization to improve interactions between typically developing siblings and children with autism spectrum disorders

ABSTRACTThe present study taught typically developing (TD) siblings of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) social-communicative and self-management skills. The authors’ hypothesized that the acquisition of self-management skills would support generalization of targeted social-communicative responses. A multiple baseline probe design across sibling dyads was used to decrease exposure to unnecessary sessions in the absence of intervention. Four TD siblings were taught self-management of a social skills curriculum using behavioral skills training, which consisted of instructions, modeling, practice, and subsequent feedback. Results indicated that TD siblings learned to self-manage the social skills curriculum with some generalization across novel settings and over time. Comparisons of social-communicative responses to their typical peers provided some support for the social validity of the intervention outcomes. These results support the use of self-management, when explicitly programming for generalization, which continues to be a key consideration when including TD siblings in interventions with their siblings with ASD.

Communication satisfaction and trust among Turkish adolescent siblings

The relationships that exist among brothers and sisters have been much less researched and observed than other kinds of family relationships. Thus, the impact of sibling dyads' gender and age difference on Turkish adolescents' communication satisfaction and trust was examined. The sample consisted of 272 (154 female, 118 male) Turkish high school students, all of whom were aged between 14 and 18 years and had 1 younger sibling. They were asked to complete the Sibling Communication Satisfaction Scale and the Dyadic Trust Scale. A significant gender difference was obtained for both trust and communication satisfaction, wherein females were more likely than males were to trust and be satisfied with their level of communication with their siblings, especially in the case of same-gender siblings. However, no significant result was found for age difference in terms of either trust or communication satisfaction.

Fertility Desires of Adolescents and Young Adults Living in Large Families : The Role of the Family of Origin and the Cultural Stereotypes

The Role of the Family of Origin and the Cultural Stereotypes: In our study, we aimed at examining the childbearing desires of adolescents and young adults living in Hungarian large families. Two different methods were used during the dyadic data analysis. On the one hand, correlation between the fertility desires of siblings, on the other hand, the absolute difference in the planned number of children was measured. The data indicate that in two out of the three dyads of siblings, created by the order of birth, significant correlation can be measured. Pseudo-dyads were created in order to test if the above mentioned parallel data can be explained by the similar socio-demographic characteristics of the sample families. The correlation disappeared in case of the randomly paired adolescents and young adults. All in all, family background is likely to have a more important impact on fertility desires of youngsters than similar social environment.

Mexican-origin youth's risk behavior from adolescence to young adulthood: The role of familism values.

Engagement in risk behavior has implications for individuals' academic achievement, health, and well-being, yet there is a paucity of developmental research on the role of culturally relevant strengths in individual and family differences in risk behavior involvement among ethnic minority youth. In this study, we used a longitudinal cohort-sequential design to chart intraindividual trajectories of risk behavior and test variation by gender and familism values in 492 youth from 12 to 22 years of age. Participants were older and younger siblings from 246 Mexican-origin families who reported on their risk behaviors in interviews spaced over 8 years. Multilevel cohort-sequential growth models revealed that youth reported an increase in risk behavior from 12 to 18 years of age, and then a decline to age 22. Male youth reported greater overall levels and a steeper increase in risk behavior from ages 12 to 18, compared to female youth. For familism values, on occasions when youth reported higher levels, they also reported lower levels of risk behavior (i.e., within-person effect). For sibling dyads characterized by higher average levels of familism values, youth reported lower average levels of risk behavior (i.e., between-family effect). Findings provide unique insights into risk behavior from adolescence to young adulthood among Mexican-origin youth. (PsycINFO Database Record

Mexican-origin parents' differential treatment and siblings' adjustment from adolescence to young adulthood.

Parents' differential treatment is a common family dynamic that has been linked to youth's well-being in childhood and adolescence in European American families. Much less is known, however, about this family process in other ethnic groups. The authors examined the longitudinal associations between parents' differential treatment (PDT) and both depressive symptoms and risky behaviors of Mexican-origin sibling pairs from early adolescence through young adulthood. They also tested the moderating roles of cultural orientations as well as youth age, gender and sibling dyad gender constellation in these associations. Participants were mothers, fathers, and 2 siblings from 246 Mexican-origin families who participated in individual home interviews on 3 occasions over 8 years. Multilevel models revealed that, controlling for dyadic parent-child relationship qualities (i.e., absolute levels of warmth and conflict), adolescents who had less favorable treatment by mothers relative to their sibling reported more depressive symptoms and risky behavior, on average. Findings for fathers' PDT emerged at the within-person level indicating that, on occasions when adolescents experienced less favorable treatment by fathers than usual, they reported more depressive symptoms and risky behavior. However, some of these effects were moderated by youth age and cultural socialization. For example, adolescents who experienced relatively less paternal warmth than their siblings also reported poorer adjustment, but this effect did not emerge for young adults; such an effect also was significant for unfavored youth with stronger but not weaker cultural orientations. (PsycINFO Database Record

Validation of a Measure of Foster Home Integration for Foster Youth.

This article introduces a youth-reported measure (Essential Youth Experiences [EYE]) developed to assess the experiences of foster youth in their home environment and their critical relationships across a number of service systems. Empirically, the article reports on the psychometric properties of a 9-item scale within the EYE that measures the construct of positive home integration (PHI). The EYE was administered to 328 preadolescent and adolescent youth (164 sibling dyads) enrolled in a larger randomized clinical trial. Correlational analysis suggests that the PHI Scale shows good psychometric properties and strong current and predictive validity. The PHI is a reliable and valid scale that measures youth perspectives of inclusion in the foster home and relationships with their foster care provider. This scale quickly gathers youth perspectives and differentiates between youth who have more versus less significant needs. Implications for research and social work practice are discussed.

Influences on the psychosocial adjustment of siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder in Taiwan and the United Kingdom

BackgroundThe present paper examined the psychosocial adjustment of typically developing (TD) siblings of children with ASD and the extent to which this is impacted by key demographic and psychosocial variables. A cross-cultural perspective was adopted to compare influences on coping and adjustment in Taiwan and the United Kingdom (UK). Method155 mother-TD sibling dyads participated, 80 in Taiwan and 75 in the UK. Participants reported by questionnaire on family demographics, symptom severity of the child with ASD, TD siblings’ life events, subjective well-being, social support, coping strategies, parent and sibling Broader Autism Phenotype (BAP) level and adjustment outcome. ResultsAccording to their self-report, TD siblings’ in Taiwan were fairly well adjusted, while slightly elevated difficulties were found in the UK sample, with peer problems the biggest concern. Impact of life experience, sibling coping, and social support were related to adjustment in both countries, but with different coping styles important in the two countries. In the UK, parents’ coping style and siblings’ own BAP level also contributed to outcome. Some differences between Taiwan and the UK samples may result from culturally-specific patterns in evaluation of child behaviours. ConclusionsThe findings from this large-scale questionnaire study have implications for clinical practice. UK siblings’ adjustment might be enhanced via intervention on parent coping style, while Taiwanese siblings may be better supported through promotion of their own coping. Health professionals should be aware of the influence of BAP levels in parents and TD siblings, which might change the way they experience stress and respond under pressure.

Etiological Risk Factors for Sibling Incest: Data From an Anonymous Computer-Assisted Self-Interview.

Retrospective data from 1,821 women and 1,064 men with one or more siblings, provided anonymously using a computer-assisted self-interview, were used to identify risk factors for sibling incest (SI); 137 were participants in SI. In order of decreasing predictive power, the risk factors identified by the multiple logistic regression analysis included ever having shared a bed for sleeping with a sibling, parent-child incest (PCI), family nudity, low levels of maternal affection, and ever having shared a tub bath with a sibling. The results were consistent with the idea that SI in many families was the cumulative result of four types of parental behaviors: (a) factors that lower external barriers to sexual behavior (e.g., permitting co-sleeping or co-bathing of sibling dyads), (b) factors that encourage nudity of children within the nuclear family and permit children to see the parent's genitals, (c) factors that lead to the siblings relying on one another for affection (e.g., diminished maternal affection), and (d) factors that eroticize young children (e.g., child sexual abuse [CSA] by a parent). Thirty-eight of the 137 SI participants were participants in coerced sibling incest (CSI). In order of decreasing predictive power, risk factors for CSI identified by multiple logistic regression analysis included ever having shared a bed for sleeping with a brother, PCI, witnessing parental physical fighting, and family nudity. SI was more likely to have been reported as CSI if the sibling had touched the reporting sibling's genitals, and less likely to have been reported as CSI if the siblings had shared a bed.