Linkages between Family Cohesion and Sibling Relationships in Families Raising a Child with a Disability

Family researchers have often reported that siblings of children with disabilities have mixed outcomes, some harmful, and some beneficial, but have neglected to investigate how the sibling relationship might be correlated with other factors, such as family cohesion. Therefore, 72 mothers and fathers raising a child with a disability and a child without a disability completed the Family Cohesion subscale of Bloom's family functioning measure and the Sibling Inventory of Behavior to determine interactions between parents' perceptions of family cohesion and sibling relationships. Results indicated that mothers and fathers' perceptions of cohesion and sibling relationships were not significantly different. Mothers' perceptions of cohesion were significantly correlated with only two aspects of sibling relationships: empathy and avoidance. Fathers' perceptions of family cohesion were independent of their perceptions of sibling relationships.

Name thesis:degree_name

EdS

Grantor dc:publisher

Brigham Young University - Provo

Author dc:creator

• Jefferson, Mary L.

• siblings
• relationships
• cohesion
• families
• disability
• Counseling Psychology
• Special Education and Teaching

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/419

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarsarchive.byu.edu:etd-1418