Predicting the Emotions of Brothers and Sisters of Individuals with Down Syndrome/Autism.
Boosting sense of coherence shields adult siblings from heavy feelings—screen it and teach it.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Alon (2025) asked adult brothers and sisters to fill out online forms.
They rated their sense of coherence—how clear, manageable, and meaningful life feels.
They also listed positive and negative feelings about having a sibling with autism or Down syndrome.
The team split results by disability type and by the sibling’s own sex.
What they found
A strong sense of coherence predicted more good feelings and fewer bad ones.
The link was stronger for autism siblings than for Down syndrome siblings.
Brothers and sisters showed slightly different patterns, but both gained the same buffer effect.
How this fits with other research
Alon (2025) conceptually replicates Raaya (2025 acceptance paper). Both use the same survey pool and show sense of coherence helps siblings, first by lifting acceptance, now by lifting mood.
Smith et al. (2015) looked backward: they found poor sibling adjustment weakens sense of coherence in teens. The new paper flips the arrow—strong sense of coherence now predicts better adult emotions.
Plant et al. (2007) and Cohn et al. (2007) saw autism siblings report colder ties and more pessimism than Down syndrome siblings. The new data say the “autism gap” shrinks when siblings score high on sense of coherence, pointing to a teachable skill rather than a fixed fate.
Why it matters
You can measure sense of coherence in five minutes during an intake.
If the score is low, teach concrete coping plans, name supports, and set small weekly goals.
This simple add-on may cut negative talk, boost cooperation, and keep the whole family in treatment longer.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Within a family system, when a sibling is diagnosed with Down Syndrome (DS) or autism, it can pose significant challenges for the non-diagnosed sibling, especially as the non-diagnosed sibling is often responsible for the future care of the diagnosed sibling. DS and autism have specific characteristics that may uniquely influence sibling relations, particularly the emotions towards the sibling with the disability. The current study focused on the role of sense of coherence (SOC) in predicting the emotions of emerging adult siblings of individuals with DS/autism. There were 543 participants ranging in age from 18 to 27 (M = 22.33, SD = 2.49): 306 were siblings (105 brothers, 201 sisters) of individuals with DS and 237 siblings (89 brothers, 148 sisters) of individuals with autism. Participants completed self-report questionnaires on emotions, SOC, and demographics. Factor analysis revealed that emotions comprised active negative emotions, passive negative emotions, and positive emotions. Path analysis results showed that SOC predicted all three emotion types, with the disability (DS/autism) and the sex of the typically-developing sibling involved in this relation. The results highlight the importance of addressing the unique needs of siblings of individuals with DS/autism both in terms of the type of disability and according to their sex.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2025 · doi:10.1177/1744629515577909