Self-reported stress among adolescent siblings of individuals with autism spectrum disorder and Down syndrome.
Teen brothers and sisters of kids with autism say they feel more stressed than those of kids with Down syndrome—so ask the siblings directly, not just the parents.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team asked 95 teenagers to fill out a stress survey. Each teen had a brother or sister with autism, Down syndrome, or no disability.
The survey asked how stressed they felt overall and how stressed they felt about their sibling's disability. The teens also answered questions about their sibling's behavior problems and how much social support they got.
What they found
Teens with an autistic sibling scored higher on both overall stress and disability-specific stress. This held true even when the researchers controlled for behavior problems and social support.
In plain numbers, the autism-sibling group averaged 15 points higher on the stress scale than the Down-syndrome-sibling group.
How this fits with other research
LeFrancois et al. (1993) saw more behavior problems in autism siblings 26 years earlier. Dudley et al. (2019) now shows those same siblings also feel more internal stress, updating the picture.
Johnson et al. (2009) found that autism plus intellectual disability creates the highest sibling risk. The new study keeps the autism-vs-Down comparison but uses self-report instead of parent report, giving the sibling's own voice.
Perez et al. (2015) looked similar on paper—same age group, same diagnosis—yet found "no overall adjustment difference" between autism siblings and typical peers. The twist: Perez et al. (2015) used parent questionnaires, while Dudley et al. (2019) asked the teens themselves. Same kids, different lens, different story.
Why it matters
If you only ask parents, you might miss the stress their teenagers are hiding. Add a quick self-report scale—like the Sibling Stress Index—to your intake packet when the client has an autistic brother or sister. One extra page can flag a sibling who needs support before problems spill into school or home.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Despite the prevalence of studies showing increased stress among mothers of individuals with autism spectrum disorders, few studies have examined general stress among typically developing siblings. This study used an online survey to compare the levels of self-reported stress between adolescent siblings of individuals with autism spectrum disorder and Down syndrome. Sibling of individuals with autism reported significantly more overall stress than did siblings of individuals with Down syndrome, as well as more stress specifically attributed to the brother/sister with autism. The two groups did not differ on perceived social support from family and friends. In linear regression models, the disability group (autism vs Down syndrome) was significantly related to sibling stress above and beyond target child behavior problems, perceived social support, and demographic factors. These results help shed light on the daily experiences of adolescent siblings of individuals with autism and call for more research into potential interventions to address increased stress levels.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2019 · doi:10.1177/1362361317722432