Examining the Role of Communication on Sibling Relationship Quality and Interaction for Sibling Pairs with and without a Developmental Disability

This study examined communication interaction patterns when one sibling had a developmental disability as well as the role of communication skills in sibling relationship quality. Thirty sibling dyads were categorized into one of three communication status groups: emerging, context-dependent, and in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal on intellectual and developmental disabilities 2013-09, Vol.118 (5), p.394-409
Main Authors: Smith, Ashlyn L, Romski, MaryAnn, Sevcik, Rose A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Affective Behavior
Biological and medical sciences
Child
Child clinical studies
Children & youth
Communication
Communication Disorders
Communication Skills
Communicative Competence (Languages)
Developmental Disabilities
Developmental Disabilities - psychology
Developmental disorders
Effect Size
Family environment. Family history
Female
Humans
Intellectual deficiency
Interaction
Interpersonal Communication
Male
Medical sciences
Mental Retardation
Meta Analysis
Miscellaneous
Parents
People with disabilities
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Sibling Relations
Sibling Relationship
Siblings
Siblings - psychology
Social psychiatry. Ethnopsychiatry
Speech Impairments
Studies
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Summary:This study examined communication interaction patterns when one sibling had a developmental disability as well as the role of communication skills in sibling relationship quality. Thirty sibling dyads were categorized into one of three communication status groups: emerging, context-dependent, and independent communicators. Independent communicators and their siblings did not differ in terms of syntactic complexity but typically developing siblings dominated the interaction and exhibited greater lexical diversity regardless of communication status. Communication status did not impact the warmth/closeness, rivalry, or conflict in the sibling relationship, but siblings of independent communicators engaged in the greatest amount of helping and managing behaviors. These results represent a first step in understanding the role of communication skills in the sibling relationship for families of children with disabilities.
ISSN:1944-7515
1944-7558
DOI:10.1352/1944-7558-118.5.394