Research shows a relationship between diagnoses of schizophrenia among twins. It was studied whether information that a twin was schizophrenic would bias diagnoses. Such information almost doubled the rater's estimates of probability of schizophrenia in a hypothetical case history. (NG)

During a family counseling session parents of a developmentally disabled teenager and their young adult son discuss the angry reactions of the young adult son during an estate planning session. (DB)

To minimize potential problems in a family which is adopting a large sibling group, adoption workers should look for particular skills and resources in the adoptive family. These include administrative skills, community knowledge, the presence of adequate support systems, and the ability to adapt. (Author/BN)

The study examined household and child care responsibilities, peer contacts, and out-of-home activities of older same-sex siblings of mentally retarded children compared to matched children without handicapped siblings. Findings indicated that older sisters tended to assume multiple caretaking responsibilities with decreased opportunities for peer…

A unit plan for providing support to nondisabled siblings of disabled children features such activities as guest speakers, lectures, discussion groups, and role playing. The program helps siblings to understand the disabilities and develop positive feelings toward their disabled sibling. (CB)

Twenty-five matched pairs of gifted and nongifted siblings were compared. Gifted students scored significantly higher on academic self-concept but did not differ from siblings on general self-esteem, and nongifted siblings scored higher on personality adjustment and endurance. (Author/DB)

First and second born college students (N=178) responded to measures of four social cognition factors. Multivariate analysis of variance identified relationships of social cognition factors with five sibling constellation components: subject's sex, subject's birth order (first or second), adjacent first or second born sibling's sex, spacing…

Compared the early recollections of 50 first-borns and 98 later-borns. The first-borns mentioned significantly more nonfamily members, illness/injury, hospital/doctor's office. Later-borns mentioned significantly more siblings than did first-borns. Findings were discussed in the context of Adler's personality theory. (JAC)

This study used data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (comprised of three subsamples taken in 1979) to characterize the siblings of middle class and poor Blacks and Whites, testing for racial differences in the probability of having a sibling on the other side of the socioeconomic divide. In support of theories in the urban poverty…

The findings of differential maternal treatment of siblings in current research are often confounded by the fact that at the time of assessment the two siblings were of different ages. This prospective study examined concordance of siblings' attachment quality to their shared mother. Participating were 106 families and their 12 to 15 month olds.…