title: Anxiety and depression symptomatology in adult siblings of individuals with different developmental disability diagnoses.
abstract: Factors predicting the emotional well-being of adult siblings of those with developmental disability (DD) remain under-researched. In this study adult siblings of individuals with Down's syndrome (DS), autism (ASD), Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) and those with DD but with unknown aetiology (DUA) were compared with each other and a closely-matched control group to ascertain if sibling disability type made a difference to anxiety and/or depression levels. Also considered was the interactive effect of gender, age, parental and sibling educational attainment levels, socio-economic status and birth order on anxiety and depression outcomes. With the exception of siblings of those with DS, adult siblings of those with ASD, PWS and DUA reported significantly higher levels of anxiety and depression than the control group. There were some predictive effects of the demographic variables upon anxiety and depression but none common to all disability types and no moderating effects of demographic factors were found. Consequently other solutions must be found as to why this important group of people have elevated rates of anxiety and depression in comparison to the general population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Chester, Parkgate Road, Chester CH1 4BJ, UK. Electronic address: l.oneill@chester.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Linda P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: O'Neill
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Chester, Parkgate Road, Chester CH1 4BJ, UK. Electronic address: l.murray@chester.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Lindsay E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Murray
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D002658:Developmental Disabilities; D004314:Down Syndrome; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011218:Prader-Willi Syndrome; D012737:Sex Factors; D035781:Siblings / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Adult siblings; Anxiety; Demographics; Depression; Developmental disabilities