title: Effect of sibling perception of differential parental treatment in sibling dyads with one disabled child.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine sibling perception of parental differential treatment in families of children with pervasive developmental disorder (PDD), Down syndrome (DS), and nondisabled controls.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sibling self-concept and social support were studied in the context of sibling perceptions of parental differential treatment and caretaker plus teacher evaluations of sibling behavioral adjustment. Measures were completed at time 1 and time 2. The effect of parental stress and the difficulty of the disabled child, as well as the sibling relationship, were considered.
  
  
  RESULTS
  For siblings of PDD children, internalizing and externalizing behavior problems identified by caretakers were evident at time 1 and more accentuated at time 2, at which time teachers also identified these difficulties. DS siblings were reported by caretakers and teachers to have only internalizing problems and only at time 2. These difficulties related to the perception for PDD siblings that they were preferred over their disabled sibling and for the DS sibling that their disabled sibling was preferred. Feelings of low competence predicted internalizing difficulties. Social support, especially over time, had a positive effect for all siblings, including the controls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The elucidation of specific mechanisms contributing to adjustment problems in the siblings of disabled children will allow for the development of specific preventive interventions.
authors.affiliation: Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Children's Hospital of Western Ontario, London, Canada.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wolf
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fisman
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ellison
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Freeman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009679:Nuclear Family / Q000523:psychology*; D009864:Ontario; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012938:Social Perception; D012944:Social Support