Discrepancy in perceived social support among typically developing siblings of youth with autism spectrum disorder.

Bergmann et al. (2019) asked typically developing brothers and sisters about social support. They wanted to know if feeling support is vital yet hard to get predicts emotional problems.

The team compared how important kids said support was with how often they said it happened. They then looked at emotional and behavioral scores.

The biggest behavior issues showed up in siblings who rated support as very important but also very rare. The gap, not just low support, drove the risk.

Kids who said support was unimportant had fewer problems even when support was low. Wanting it and not getting it hurt the most.

Sutton et al. (2022) reviewed dozens of studies and found low support links to depression and loneliness. S et al. sharpen that picture: the mismatch between wanting and receiving may be the active ingredient.

Hastings (2003) saw no extra behavior problems in siblings of kids receiving home ABA. The older study looked at raw support level; S et al. show the pain lives in the discrepancy, explaining why some "well-supported" kids still struggle.

Glugatch et al. (2021) taught siblings play skills and boosted shared time. Their success makes sense: more positive interaction can shrink the gap S et al. flagged by turning rare support into common support.

When you assess an autism family, ask the typical sibling two quick questions: "How important is it that people support you?" and "How often do you get it?" If importance tops frequency, move that child to the front of the line for sibling groups, peer mentoring, or coached play sessions. Closing the gap early may prevent bigger emotional problems later.