رابطه خواهر و برادری نوجوانان با و بدون معلولیت ذهنی

The sibling relationship of adolescents with and without intellectual disabilities was examined. Participants were 70 sibling dyads – each dyad was comprised of one 12-year old adolescent with (N = 23) or without intellectual disabilities (N = 47). Sibling relationships, behavior problems, and social skills were assessed using mother reports. Results revealed three findings. First, for typically developing adolescents, mothers reported more warmth in the sibling relationship for opposite sex dyads. For adolescents with intellectual disabilities, mothers reported more warmth in the sibling relationship for same-sex dyads. Second, for typically developing adolescents, mothers reported more status/power differences when the sibling was younger than when the sibling was older. For adolescents with intellectual disabilities, birth order did not affect status/power in the sibling relationship. Third, for typically developing adolescents, conflict was related to internalizing behavior problems. For adolescents with intellectual disabilities, conflict was related to externalizing behavior problems. Implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

Family members and the complex relationships among them play a critical role in the development of children with disabilities. However, family studies primarily focus on the parent–child relationship (Baker et al., 2003 and Stack et al., 2010). The limited research on the sibling relationship focuses more often on how the sibling with a disability affects his/her typically developing (TD) brother and/or sister (Eisenberg et al., 1998, Ishizaki et al., 2005, McHale and Gamble, 1989, Orsmond and Seltzer, 2009, Petalas et al., 2009 and Wolf et al., 1998). There is much less known about how TD siblings contribute to the development of individuals with intellectual disability (ID). The purpose of this paper is twofold: (1) to examine differences in the sibling relationship for adolescents with and without intellectual disabilities and (2) to examine how the sibling relationship impacts the adjustment of adolescents with and without intellectual disabilities.