Risk Factors in Families of Children with Developmental Disabilities
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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