Sibling Relationship Trajectories across 3 years in Families of Children with Autism

• In Event: Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: PS 12 Topic - Developmental Disabilities

Abstract

Currently, 1 in 59 children in the U.S. meet criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Families of children with ASD report unique experiences within the parenting and marital subsystems. Less is known about the sibling subsystem. The goal of this study was to examine the sibling relationship across three years in families who have a child with ASD. Moreover, we sought to understand the association between characteristics of the child with ASD (i.e., sex, birth order, severity of ASD symptoms, and co-occurring behavior problems) and the quality of sibling relationship over time. Our research questions were: (1) How does the sibling relationship change over time in families of children with ASD? (2) Are child and family characteristics (e.g., sex, age, birth order, severity of autism symptoms and behavior problems) associated with the sibling relationship? We hypothesized that there would be an increase in the quality of the sibling relationship, on average, across time. We also hypothesized that there would be, on average, a more negative sibling relationship for families of children with ASD who had a higher severity of autism symptoms and more comorbid behavior problems. To test our research questions, we examined parent-reported sibling relationship quality using the Family Impact Questionnaire (FIQ; Donenberg & Baker, 1993) across four time points (spanning 3 years) in 87 families with two children - one with ASD (aged 5-12 years) and one who was typically developing (TD). Descriptive data and boxplots were used to examine variable distributions. Pearson correlations were used to examine associations among variables at each time point. A multilevel model using Hierarchical Linear Modeling software was conducted to examine both initial level and change in sibling relationship quality across time. Level 1 (within-person) variables included Time (coded in years; Time 1 = 0), parent gender (1 = mother, -1 = fathers) and child scores on the Social Responsiveness Scale- Second Edition (SRS-2; Constantino & Gruber, 2012) and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL; Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001) Internalizing and Externalizing scores, group-mean centered. Level 2 (between-family) variables included family demographics and mean SRS-2 and CBCL scores, grand-mean centered. There were significant negative correlations between sibling relationship quality and CBCL and SRS-2 scores (Table 1). Parent gender did not significantly interact with Level 1 or 2 variables. All Level 1 by Level 2 interactions were tested; only significant terms remained in final model (shown in Table 2). Families of male (vs. female) children with ASD and those who had a lower (vs. higher) household income reported a more negative initial sibling relationship quality. Across time, sibling relationship quality negatively co-varied with severity of the child with ASD’s externalizing behavior problems for older (but not younger) children with ASD, but was not associated with severity of ASD symptoms. Findings can help guide family services. Specifically, families of older children with ASD and those with comorbid externalizing problems may benefit from supports to enhance the sibling relationship.

Authors

• Claire Stelter, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Presenting Author

• Jessica Greenlee, Kenyon College
  Non-Presenting Author

• Brianna Piro-Gambetti, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kim Drastal, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sigan Hartley, University of Wisconsin
  Non-Presenting Author