Social skills and sibling relations of elder sisters and brothers of children with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder

3ABSTRACTSOCIAL SKILLS AND SIBLING RELATIONS OFELDER SISTERS AND BROTHERS OF CHILDRENWITH ATTENTION DEFICIT AND HYPERACTIVITY DISORDERAslı Ogün BOZBEY AKALINMA Thesis, Department of Educational SciencesSupervisor : Prof. Dr. Banu Yazgan İNANÇMay 2005, 79 PagesThe main purpose of this study is to investigate the social skill level and siblingrelationship quality of elder sisters and brothers of children with Attention DeficitHyperactivity Disorder and the effect of ADHD on these variables. The sample of thestudy consisted of 60 elder sisters and brothers between the ages of 10-16, half with andhalf without a younger sibling with ADHD and their mothers. According to the resultsof the questionaire completed by the mothers, social competence level of the oldersisters and brothers whose siblings had ADHD, scored lower than the control group. Inthe light of the data gathered from the same questionaire, it is understood that childrenwho had a sibling with ADHD were more frequently experiencing social andbehavioural problems. According to the data collected from the questionaire which theelder sisters and brothers had completed, significant differences were found in siblingrelationship quality in terms of affection, admiration of sibling, admiration by sibling,paternal partiality and similarity, between the two groups in favor of the sisters andbrothers with a normally developing sibling and quarrel was more frequent in siblingpairs in which one sibling had ADHD. During the interviews, both the mothers and theelder sisters and brothers mentioned that the parents payed more attention to the siblingwith ADHD. Also, aggressive behaviours in sibling relationships were frequentlyreported.Keywords: Sibling relations, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, social skills.