This study examined whether autistic people with siblings score higher on measures of empathy than those without siblings. Cohorts of autistic children (n = 939; mean age = 7.35 years (SD = 2.15)) and autistic adults (n = 736; mean age = 37 years (SD = 12.39)) from the Cambridge Autism Research Database (CARD) were each divided into two groups:…

Background: The increased life expectancy of people with Down syndrome puts pressure on parents, who are usually the main caregivers but who find caring more difficult as they get older. The quality of the support provided by brothers and sisters depends on the intra-family relationships they build when growing up. Methods: 121 adult siblings of…

Siblings play an important role in shaping the developmental trajectories of individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Having siblings has been associated with better social communication, non-verbal communication, and theory of mind abilities in autism spectrum disorder. However, little is known about the impact of siblings on adaptive skill…

This article examines how the detention or deportation of a parent shapes the roles and responsibilities of young adults within the household and the consequences that these changes have on their educational experiences. Drawing from thirty-two in-depth interviews with young adults living in the United States whose parent was detained, author…

We used structural equation modeling in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study--Kindergarten Cohort (N = 17,020) to explore the influence of having an older sibling on kindergarten-age focal children's cognitive self-regulation. In model 1, we tested how having a sibling who is generally older than the focal child contributes to the focal child's…

Family interviews were conducted with 28 7-12-year-old children who had experienced various forms of bullying and relational aggression by their peers, as well as with their parent and with an older sibling. Interviews explored possible supportive strategies of older siblings, parents, and teachers. All bullied children reported negative feelings…

This study aimed to investigate: (1) the influence of gender, sibling age, and sibling gender on sibling bullying and victimization; (2) the links between personality characteristics, quality of the sibling relationship, and sibling bullying/victimization; (3) the association between sibling and school bullying/victimization, and the direct and…

Both Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) and divorce are very prevalent in western societies, and they may occur together. AD/HD is generally viewed as a neurobiological disorder, which has led to a commonly held belief that social-environmental factors play little role in the symptom profile of children diagnosed with the disorder.…

Research Findings: Sibling teaching and learning behaviors were investigated in 2 studies of children in early and middle childhood. Study 1 addressed individual differences in teaching/learning and associations with dyadic age, age gap, gender, birth order, and relationship quality in 71 middle-class dyads (firstborns M age = 81.54 months;…

The majority of studies linking individual differences in the quality of social relationships and activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis have focused on the early development of attachment between infants and their caregivers. Later in development, during middle childhood and adolescence, the parallel HPA links to…

We tested social comparison predictions about cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between parents' differential treatment of siblings and both youth depressive symptoms and sibling relationship qualities from middle childhood to late adolescence, controlling for dyadic parent-child relationships and siblings' ratings of parents'…

This article examines developmental trends in the rates of different kinds of victimization across the span of childhood. The Developmental Victimization Survey was a national telephone survey of the victimization experiences of 2,030 children from ages 2 to 17. The overall mean number of victimizations during a single year increased with age, as…

Children often learn and apply behaviors in sibling interactions before they routinely use such behaviors in peer interactions. As part of a longitudinal study of relational aggression, 46 children were videotaped at home in semi-structured free play situations with siblings and with friends at age 4 and again at age 8. Observations revealed that…

Seventy-six siblings (3-9 years) were individually interviewed concerning their recent conflicts. Analyses compared goals, requests, and voluntary actions attributed to self and other. Children were adept at describing both own and others' goals, requests, and actions, and these formed coherent hierarchies in which overarching explicit goals…

Changes in sibling intimacy and conflict were charted from middle childhood through adolescence, and family structure and relationship correlates of change were examined. Participants were mothers, fathers, and firstborn (M=11.82 years at Time 1) and secondborn (M=9.22 years) siblings from 200 White, working/middle class, 2-parent families.…