Responsibility and Adjustment in Siblings of Children with Disabilities: Update and Review

Abstract

This article provides a review of research addressing the role of home and child care responsibility in the psychological adjustment of siblings of children with disabilities, as defined by special education law. Early classic studies are reviewed followed by more recent work on gender and SES of the sibling, the relationship of sibling responsibility to adjustment and the level of home and child care responsibility for siblings with and without a brother/sister who has a disability. The author concludes that neither the existence of higher levels of responsibility for siblings of children with disabilities nor the classification of responsibility as a psychological risk factor have been established. In studies that Included comparison groups, girls had more home and child care responsibility than boys, whether or not there was a child with a disability in the home. However, the sibling's worry about future responsibility and cognitions about the responsibility that does exist are worthy of further exploration. Clinicians are advised to consider the issue of responsibility and how it is viewed by family members in work with families of children who have disabilities, and to be aware of cultural and religious characteristics of the family as they pertain to the issue of family responsibility for its members.