Risk Factors in Families of Children with Developmental Disabilities

Loading...
Thumbnail Image

Date

2019-09-18

Authors

Tuso, Jillian

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

University of Oregon

Abstract

Children with developmental disabilities often present with increased behavioral problems and a decreased social skill repertoire. These characteristics often directly impact caregiver’s own stress and pose challenges in the home. Less is known about how the presence of a child in the home with a disability impacts their siblings. Further, the literature is mixed surrounding if brothers and sisters of children with developmental disabilities are more or less adjusted than siblings of children that are typically developing. There is also a gap surrounding how parenting multiple children, when at least one of the children has a developmental disability, impacts parental stress. The current study explored how target child factors, sibling factors, and other parent and family factors can influence parental stress. Forty-one families participated in this study and provided information on themselves, their target preschool-aged child with a developmental disability, and an older identified sibling. Higher behavior problems and lower social skills in the target child predicted parental stress; however, these variables in the siblings did not. Dyadic adjustment was found to serve as a protective factor against parental stress after accounting for the influence of the target child’s and the sibling’s behavior problems. Target child behavior problems predicted parental stress after accounting for common familial stressors. Future research could explore other parent outcome variables that might be influenced by multiple children. Future research could be conducted that focuses on sibling adjustment as an outcome, as well as leveraging siblings as informants to get their perspectives on impact of having a brother or sister with a disability. Additionally, sibling perspectives on family life and family adjustment could also be investigated.

Description

Keywords

Developmental Disabilities, Family, Sibings

Citation