Sibling relationships may be strained when one sibling is diagnosed with autism and the other is not. The way that siblings interact during play is one indicator of the quality of this relationship. Non-autistic siblings have been taught to encourage play in their autistic siblings, but there is limited literature examining the impact of…

This study sheds light on sibling mediation of young children's media use, focusing on older brothers and sisters as significant mediators in imparting preferences, skills, and norms of media use in early childhood. The sample included 20 families with two or three children, one of whom was four to seven years of age and had at least one older…

Typically developing children who grow up with siblings with disabilities often have numerous negative experiences owing to many factors such as parental differences in behaviour, lack of time & attention received and many others. This paper aims to analyse themes emerging from interviews with typically developing siblings, their parents and…

Background: The impact of having a disabled brother or sister on siblings' psychological well-being and sibling relationships has been the subject of several research studies. However, research which focuses on the relationship between siblings and their autistic brother or sister with an intellectual disability and complex care needs is rare. We…

Identifying infants at elevated likelihood for autism and other developmental differences in the first year of life remains a significant challenge. This study explored associations between behavioral differences in infancy and developmental outcomes in toddlerhood. We conducted a secondary data analysis of 256 infants with an older autistic…

Parents and siblings play a vital role in promoting and inhibiting the development of comforting behaviour -- a typical prosocial behaviour. This study aims to explore the dual mediating model of positive and negative sibling relationships between parental self-efficacy (PSE) and firstborn children's comforting behaviours. We enrolled 163…

We tested a novel methodological approach to examine associations between characteristics of autistic children and outcomes for siblings. Cluster analysis was used to define five groups of children with autism (n = 168) based on autism symptoms, adaptive behavior, pro-social behavior, and behavior problems. Primary and secondary parent carers, and…

Cross-lagged panel designs were used to examine longitudinal and potential (bi)directional relationships between primary caregiver reported sibling relationship quality and the behaviors of children with intellectual disability (n = 297) and their closest in age siblings. The behavioral and emotional problems of the child with intellectual…

Research Findings: Despite the fact that the universal two-child policy had a significant impact on family structure and parenting behaviors, there is still a paucity of study on the mechanisms underlying this policy's effects. This study explored the role of social competence and sibling presence in the relationship between maternal warmth and…

The purpose of this study was to examine the play skills of children with typical development and those with speech and language disorders (SLD) based on gender, the presence of siblings, and parents' education levels. There were 270 children included in the study's sample. In the study, 'The Play Behaviour Scale' was used. Reticent behaviour…

The purpose of the current study was to use the infant sibling design to explore whether proband traits of autism and ADHD could provide information about their infant sibling's temperament. This could help us to gain information about the extent to which infant temperament traits are differentially associated with autism and ADHD traits. We used…

Background and aims: Despite its high potential for affecting sibling relationships, few studies have explored the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on this important family dynamic. Of these, the reported evidence has been inconsistent across cultures and lacks cross-cultural comparability. For the first time, we investigated cross-cultural…

Research Findings: Siblings' interactions in early childhood may provide a unique context for understanding others' needs and fostering prosociality. This 2-year longitudinal study examined children's prosocial responsiveness to their siblings' needs during naturalistic interactions. European-Canadian sibling dyads (N = 39) were observed in their…

Despite the prevalence of studies showing increased stress among mothers of individuals with autism spectrum disorders, few studies have examined general stress among typically developing siblings. This study used an online survey to compare the levels of self-reported stress between adolescent siblings of individuals with autism spectrum disorder…

Play materials designed to enhance children's pretense were investigated; namely, how the specific characteristics of the play sets (thematically open-ended village set vs thematically closed-ended train set) influenced children's play communication regarding their co-construction of shared meanings. Participants included 44 7-year-old focal…