Sibling Bullying in Middle Childhood is Associated with Psychosocial Difficulties in Early Adolescence: The Case of Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Umar Toseeb, Gillian McChesney, Jeremy Oldfield and 1 others
PMID 31332675WHAT IT FOUND
Children with autism were more likely than peers to report two-way sibling bullying at 14, and sibling bullying at 11 was linked to more emotional and behaviour problems and lower prosocial skills at 14.
Key findings
01At age 11, 32% of children with autism reported being uninvolved in sibling bullying, compared with 51% of children without autism; by age 14, the reported uninvolved rates were 62% and 66%.
02At age 14, 27% of children with autism reported being both a victim and a perpetrator of sibling bullying, compared with 21% of children without autism.
03Being involved in sibling bullying at age 11 was associated with more internalising problems at age 14, and this association was similar for children with and without autism.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
Autism status was based on parent report rather than clinical diagnosis. Sibling and peer bullying were self-reported, and children with autism may have difficulty describing social experiences. Siblings were not assessed, so their autism status or behaviour was unknown. The study is observational, so it shows associations rather than cause and effect. Analyses excluded children with no siblings and families with more than one child in the study, so the results do not describe those households. Residual confounding cannot be ruled out, even after adjusting for several family and child factors.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that reducing sibling bullying will improve emotional or behavioural outcomes. This study followed children over time and adjusted for several factors, but it still only reports associations; the authors say causation would need future studies.