Brothers and sisters are an integral component of all family systems. This study investigated the needs and concerns of siblings of individuals with disabilities.
The major research question was, "What are siblings' perceptions of their needs for education and support?" First, an instrument was developed to ascertain siblings' needs for information, training, professional support, community/generic support, family support, and overall need for education and support. Content validity and internal consistency reliability were assessed. Next, this research examined the relationship between sibling, disabled person, and family variables with siblings' perceived level of need.
Six hundred and seventy nine siblings, ages seven through 83, representing all 50 states, responded to the survey. Most siblings were older than their disabled sibling, with an average age of 31 years for the respondent and 24 years for the sibling with a disability. Respondents were asked to indicate their level of need utilizing a 5-point Likert scale.
Siblings' indicated a moderate to high level of need for several specific items: (1) information about future planning; (2) information about community resources and services; (3) training in how to reduce stress for other family members; and (4) community/generic support in the form of recreational programs for the disabled sibling.
The major findings of this study were that significant differences existed across the independent variables of sex, age, family life cycle of the respondent and the disabled sibling, access (similarity in gender and proximity in age), ethnic background, sibling and parental marital status, educational program, current day program, and current living situation, for select dependent variables. There were no significant differences for small versus large families and across religious affiliation for any of the dependent variables.
