Sibling relationships of children with autistic, mentally retarded, and nonhandicapped brothers and sisters.
Sibling love stays strong after an autism diagnosis, but watch for favoritism worries and coping stress.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Emmelkamp et al. (1986) asked kids and moms to rate their sibling bonds.
They compared families with a child with autism, a child with intellectual disability, and a child without disabilities.
Everyone filled out the same survey so the team could see if the disability label changed how brothers and sisters felt about each other.
What they found
Most kids said they liked their brother or sister, no matter the diagnosis.
The problems that did show up were about day-to-day hassles, not the label of autism or ID.
Moms and kids agreed: the relationship was more positive than negative.
How this fits with other research
LeFrancois et al. (1993) and Hastings (2003) seem to disagree. They found more behavior problems in autism siblings.
The gap is explained by severity. The 1986 group mixed mild and severe cases. The later studies looked only at kids with severe autism or at younger brothers who are at higher risk.
Perez et al. (2015) and Rivers et al. (2003) add the next layer. They show that family stress, marital tension, and broader autism traits in the sibling can turn a good bond sour.
McIntyre et al. (2017) followed the same idea into adulthood. Positive early feelings predicted more support and better mental health decades later.
Why it matters
You can reassure parents that a new autism diagnosis does not doom sibling love. Still, screen for two red flags: perceived parental favoritism and worries about coping. When those pop up, offer brief support or sibling groups. Target younger brothers first—they are the most vulnerable.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The subjects were 90 children between 6 and 15 years of age, 30 with autistic, 30 with mentally retarded, and 30 with nonhandicapped brothers or sisters. The children were questioned about their sibling relationships in an open-ended interview, and, in the case of children with handicapped siblings, they also responded to questions about particular problems they faced in regard to their brothers or sisters. In addition, mothers filled out a behavior rating scale in which they described the positive and negative aspects of their children's behavior toward the sibling. In general, children and mothers rated the sibling relationships positively. Group comparisons indicated that children with autistic and mentally retarded siblings did not differ on any self-report measures. Children with nonhandicapped siblings reported that their family relations were slightly more cohesive but otherwise did not differ in terms of their self-reports from children with handicapped siblings. Mothers of nonhandicapped children, however, rated the sibling relationships more negatively than did mothers of handicapped children. Further analyses revealed that status variables (age, gender, family size) were not as highly correlated with the quality of sibling relationships with handicapped children as were specific problem areas (e.g., perceptions of parental favoritism, coping ability, concerns about the handicapped child's future).
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 1986 · doi:10.1007/BF01531707