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Abstract | Summary
| Original Article
How Are Families Doing?
by Patricia Colton, MA, Med
Bottom Line
How are the families of children
with autism or other developing
disorders doing?
The Siblings:
- Nearly 90% of the
siblings of children with
autism were doing well emotionally
and socially.
- Those who did
have problems had siblings
whose symptoms were more
severe.
- Family problems
due to the severity of symptoms
in the child with autism
may contribute to whatever
emotional problems the typically
developing child has.
- Genetic factors
may negatively influence
the social interaction skills
of the siblings, causing
them social problems.
The Mothers:
- Nearly 70% of the mothers of children with autism were found not to be depressed.
- Those who had trouble coping generally had children with more behavioural problems.
- Mothers who believed that their child with autism did not return their affection were more likely to have symptoms of depression.
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Two recent studies looked at how well the siblings and mothers of children with autism are doing and compared their experiences to those of the siblings and mothers of children with other developmental disorders.
The results of the research showed that, for the most part, families are doing pretty well, with only a minority of mothers and brothers and sisters having problems.
Dr. Tammy Pilowsky and her colleagues1 looked at the siblings of those with autism, the siblings of those with mental retardation with no known cause (the medical term), and the siblings of those with developmental learning disability (DLD). All of the children in the families were between the ages of 3 and 16. They found that about 13% of the sibs of children with autism had a mental health problem. The diagnoses that were found were borderline intelligence, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety disorder, pervasive developmental disorder, and oppositional disorder.
Most of the siblings of children with autism ? 86.7% ? did well on measures of social functioning, and there were no differences found between the 3 groups of siblings on this score. It could be that having a sibling with autism may actually enhance a child?s ability to accept others with differences more readily than children who do not have a similar experience. However, there were factors related to the child with autism or the other conditions that adversely affected their siblings? social development. The severity of the affected child?s condition, as indicated by their verbal ability, often meant that the siblings had worse social development. It may be that the severity of their sibling?s condition means that they themselves carry a greater genetic predisposition to having social problems, or that it affects family functioning and thus their own upbringing. The authors found that, overall, the emotional health and the social adjustment of the majority of the siblings were normal for their age.
Dr. Leonard Abbeduto and colleagues studied the psychological wellbeing of mothers with a developmentally disabled child.2 Three groups were surveyed: 39 mothers of a child with Down syndrome; 22 mothers of a child with fragile X syndrome, and 174 mothers of a child with autism. All had children, adolescents, or young adults between the ages of 10 and 23. The mothers were given standard tests to see if they were depressed or generally pessimistic. Another test looked at the degree of closeness between the mother and the child with a developmental disorder. The researchers also asked about the mothers? habitual way of coping with stress.
The mothers of children with Down syndrome were significantly less pessimistic than the mothers in the other groups, and reported greater closeness with their child. They also believed that their child returned the closeness. The mothers of children with autism and Fragile X reported greater pessimism, reduced feelings of closeness to their child, and a reduced sense that their child felt close to them. The mothers of children with autism reported the least closeness, and mothers of children with Fragile X syndrome were somewhere in the middle.
Most of the mothers in all three groups were not depressed. However, 33% of the mothers of children with autism had depression scores in the clinical range, while 18.2% of the mothers of children with Fragile X were clinically depressed. In contrast, only 10.3% of the mothers of children with Down syndrome had a clinical depression on testing. The only significant difference was between Down syndrome and autism groups. Mothers of the autism group more likely to be depressed than the Down syndrome group.
Overall, it was the severity of the child?s behavioural problems that predicted whether or not a mother had emotional problems or trouble coping. Her income, her coping style and closeness to her child were not related to the mothers? depression. The worse the behaviour, the more pessimistic the mother was and the less closeness she had with her child. Mothers who had more than one child with autism or fragile X in the family also reported more symptoms of depression, as did mothers who believed that their child did not return their affection.
This study demonstrated that the children?s problem behaviours had the most effect on the mothers? well being and ability to cope. Another area on which treatment research might most profitably focus is the experience of fathers of children with developmental problems. The results of this study do not show that the factors explored cause the mothers? depression. This type of study, a survey, cannot demonstrate that kind of relationship.
1 Social and emotional adjustment of siblings of children with autism.
Pilowsky T, Yirmiya N, Doppelt O, Gross-Tsur V, Shalev RS.
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 2004. 45(4): 855-865.
2 Psychological well-being and coping in mothers of youths with autism, Down syndrome, or Fragile X syndrome.
Abbeduto L, Seltzer MM, Shattuck P, Krauss MQ, Orsmond G, Murphy MM.
American Journal on Mental Retardation. 2004. 109(3):237-254.
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