The impact of a child’s disability on sibling relationship in the family

Abstract

Aim: The aim of our research was to find out the nature of sibling relationships, if at least one of the siblings has a disability. Sample and setting: The research sample of our research was the siblings of children with disabilities. Our research was attended by 332 respondents aged from 6 to 45 years. We used a standardized valid research tool, the Sibling Perception Questionnaire, which tells us about the disability response in the dimensions: interpersonal responses and relationships, intrapersonal survival, communication and fear of disability. Normality of distribution was tested by the Kolmogor-Smirnov test, Kruskal-Wallis test and Spearman correlation analysis. Results: The average score reached by respondents was 53.957831 points, indicating the relatively positive relationships of respondents with the sibling with disability. However, other data analyzes have also revealed the negative impact of disability on the sibling relationship in the area of internal survival of the respondent and communication. We investigated statistically significant differences in three dimensions – interpersonal responses and relationships, communication and fear of disability based on the age of the respondents, the age of their siblings, their place of residence and the self-governing region in which they live. Correlations were found between sibling responses to disability in all four dimensions, based on the age of the respondents, the age of their siblings and the number of siblings. Conclusion: Within possible recommendations, we emphasize the need for increased attention to the siblings of children with disability, especially at younger age. It is important to focus on the inner survival of siblings, their relationships with the environment and the area of their communication, which, according to our research results, can negatively affect the sibling relationship. © 2019, Czech Medical Association J.E. Purkyne. All rights reserved.