The influence of down's syndrome on sibling interaction.
Home observations were done on sibling interactions in 31 families with a child having Down's syndrome and a non-handicapped sibling. The siblings with Down's syndrome initiated less prosocial and agonistic behaviour, but imitated more frequently than their non-handicapped siblings. These effects were found regardless of birth order. There were no effects of gender. Higher levels of prosocial behaviours among large interval dyads and in dyads with a second-born Down's syndrome child were primarily due to the age of the non-handicapped sibling. Results were similar to those in previous "normative" studies of sibling interactions.
D001722:Birth Order; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004314:Down Syndrome / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D010988:Play and Playthings; D012801:Sibling Relations; D012917:Social Adjustment