Sibling relationships of children with Down syndrome: perspectives of mothers, fathers, and siblings
Cuskelly, Monica; Gunn, P. Fred and Eleanor Schonell Special Education Research Centre, University of Queensland, Queensland, Australia.
Fifty-four siblings of children with Down syndrome and their parents and an individually matched group of comparison children and parents provided data about the quality of sibling relationships. There were no group differences in parental reports, but siblings of children with Down syndrome reported less unkindness and, if in a same-sex dyad, more empathy than did comparison children. There were differences between same-sex and opposite-sex dyads regarding avoidance and frequency of sibling positive and negative interactions. There were no group or sex differences in children's reports of their interactions with parents or contribution to household chores. Siblings of a child with Down syndrome participated in more caregiving activities. Caregiving was associated with empathy and involvement on the relationship questionnaire.
International Journal of Disability, Development & Education45 (3): 295-311 (1998 Sep)
Behaviour problems in the siblings of children with Down syndrome: Associations with family responsibilities and parental stress
Cuskelly, Monica; Chant, David; Hayes, Alan University of Queensland, Fred & Eleanor Schonell Education Research Center, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
Examined the experience of the brothers and sisters of a child with Down syndrome. 45 families with a child with Down syndrome (aged 4.5-7.5 and 12.5-15.5 yrs) and 88 comparison families provided information about their children's behavior problems and their involvement in household tasks. In addition, parental stress was measured using the Parenting domain of the Parenting Stress Index. There were no differences between the siblings of a child with Down syndrome and comparison children on mothers' or fathers' reports of problem behavior. Siblings of a child with Down syndrome also did not differ in their contribution to family tasks; however, for the brothers of a child with Down syndrome, there were significant negative correlations between household tasks and behavior problems on fathers' report. Parents of a child with Down syndrome reported more stress than comparison parents and stress was related to reports of problem behavior for some parent groups.
J Child Psychol Psychiatry33 (4): 749-761 (1992 May)
Behavioural problems in children with Down's syndrome and their siblings
Cuskelly, Monica; Dadds, Mark University of Queensland, Fred & Eleanor Schonell Education Research Center, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
Reports of problem behaviour in children with Down's syndrome and their siblings were gathered from mothers, fathers and teachers. Twenty-one sibling pairs were included in the study. The Revised Behavior Problem Checklist (Quay & Peterson, 1983) was used to gather information on total problem behaviour and on five specific problem areas. Children with Down's syndrome were reported to display more problem behaviours overall and to show significantly more attentional problems than their siblings by all rater groups. Sisters of children with Down's syndrome were reported to be more conduct disordered than were brothers by mothers, fathers and teachers. Measures of depression and marital satisfaction found both parent groups to be in the non-distressed range on these instruments. Depression contributed significantly to both parents' reports of problems in the siblings while marital satisfaction was important for mothers' reports of problems in children with Down's syndrome.
J Child Psychol Psychiatry28 (5): 749-761 (1987 Sep)
Retarded children and their siblings
Gath A, Gumley D Drummond Clinic, West Suffolk Hospital, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, U.K.
One hundred and eighty-three retarded children and their nearest-in-age siblings were investigated. Ninety-five of the retarded children had Down's syndrome and 88 were retarded for other reasons. Interviews with the parents were carried out at home. Questionnaires on behaviour and educational attainment were completed for the retarded child, the sibling and a classroom control for the sibling. The retarded children had more behaviour problems than their siblings, as expected. The behaviour problems in the sibling were more often found if the retarded child had much-disturbed behaviour, especially when the retarded child had Down's syndrome. The siblings in the non-Down's group had more reading problems and more behaviour disturbance in school than either the controls or the siblings of Down's syndrome group.