Anxiety and depression symptomatology in adult siblings of individuals with different developmental disability diagnoses.
Adult siblings of people with autism, Prader-Willi, or unknown DD carry extra anxiety and depression risk; Down syndrome siblings do not.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers asked adult brothers and sisters to fill out mental-health surveys. They compared siblings of people with autism, Down syndrome, Prader-Willi, or unknown DD to siblings of people without disabilities.
What they found
Siblings of adults with autism, Prader-Willi, or unknown DD reported more anxiety and depression. Siblings of adults with Down syndrome looked the same as typical siblings.
How this fits with other research
Cohn et al. (2007) and Plant et al. (2007) saw the same split: autism siblings felt worse, Down siblings felt fine. The new study adds Prader-Willi and unknown-DD groups.
Dudley et al. (2019) found the same pattern in teenagers: autism siblings felt more stress than Down siblings. The trouble starts early and lasts into adulthood.
Capio et al. (2013) looked at kids and saw only a small bump in anxiety for school-age brothers. Mixed results keep showing up; age and sex matter.
Why it matters
When you meet a new family, ask about the siblings. If the client has autism, Prader-Willi, or an unclear diagnosis, the brother or sister may need a quick mood screen. A simple GAD-7 or PHQ-9 at intake can catch hidden anxiety or depression. No extra test is needed for Down syndrome families unless red flags appear.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Factors predicting the emotional well-being of adult siblings of those with developmental disability (DD) remain under-researched. In this study adult siblings of individuals with Down's syndrome (DS), autism (ASD), Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) and those with DD but with unknown aetiology (DUA) were compared with each other and a closely-matched control group to ascertain if sibling disability type made a difference to anxiety and/or depression levels. Also considered was the interactive effect of gender, age, parental and sibling educational attainment levels, socio-economic status and birth order on anxiety and depression outcomes. With the exception of siblings of those with DS, adult siblings of those with ASD, PWS and DUA reported significantly higher levels of anxiety and depression than the control group. There were some predictive effects of the demographic variables upon anxiety and depression but none common to all disability types and no moderating effects of demographic factors were found. Consequently other solutions must be found as to why this important group of people have elevated rates of anxiety and depression in comparison to the general population.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2016 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2015.12.017