Determination the sibling relationships of people who have handicapped and non-handicapped siblings

ABSTRACTThe aim of this study was to compare the sibling relationships of people whohave handicapped and non-handicapped siblings.107 participants (31 had autistic sibling, 36 had Down Syndrome and 40 hadnon-handicapped sibling), between the ages of 12-23, have been selected among thechilds attended to three instituons, namely ODER, DOSEYAD lgim Özel EğitimMerkezi. Participants who had non-handicapped siblings treated as control group.To collect information about sibling relationships, participants wereadministered Furman and Buhrmester?s (1985) ?Sibling Relationship Questionnaire?.In addition to Questionnaire, they filled out socio-demographic information form. Thisform consisted of following questions which are considered to be related to the siblingrelationships in the literature: siblings? own gender, age and the age-spacing betweensiblings, siblings? gender and age, family type, the number of children in the family andthe socio-economic level of the family. Two different versions of socio-demographicinformation form were administered in the study: one for participants who hadhandicapped siblings (autistic and down syndrome) and the other for participants whohad non-handicapped siblings. A series of MANOVA is performed to analyses the data.All statistics analyses conducted with SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) forWindows.Results showed that there were particular differences in the siblingrelationships among 3 groups (participants who had autistic siblings, down syndromesiblings and non-handicapped siblings). Participants with non-handicapped siblings(control group) had higher scores at the Sibling Relationship Questionnaire? subscales?conflict? and ?rivalry? than experimental groups (whose had handicapped siblings).On the other hand, there were no differences among groups on the scores of othersubscales, namely ?relative status/power? and ?warmth/closeness?. Furthermore, therewas no effect of the variables ?participant?s own age?, ?sibling?s gender and age?,?age-spacing between siblings?, ?family type?, and ?number of children in the family?on any of the Sibling Relationship Questionnaire subscales. However, ?participant?own gender? and ?soscio economic status of the family? has an effect on the siblingrelationships. Girls from all grups (experimental groups and control) had higher scoresthan boys on ?warmth/closeness? and ?relative status/power? subscales. Participantsfrom lowest SES group also had higher scores than the highest SES group on the?relative status/power? subscale, when middle SES group had higher scores than othertwo groups (higher and lower SES) on ?conflict? subscale.Keywords: Sibling Relationship, Autism, Down Syndrome.