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Page 1 of 3 Analysis of a study on the tremendous negative impact that children with ADHD can have on their siblings.
What is it like for a child when one of his or her siblings has ADHD? What are the kinds of issues that children in this situation tend to struggle with? This is an extremely important area for parents and professionals to attend to and almost no research on this topic exists.
That is why I was so pleased to recently locate a study in which this issue is examined (Kendall, J., Sibling accounts of ADHD. Family Process, 38, Spring, 1999, 117-136). I found this to be a wonderful study, even though the information presented is somewhat upsetting. As you read the information below, please keep in mind that what the author of this study reported does not necessarily apply to all children who have a sibling with ADHD. I have personally seen families where the relationship between sibs when one had ADHD was quite positive, and this may certainly be true of your own family. Nonetheless, I believe what was uncovered in this study is potentially quite instructive and useful to know about.
Because so little work has been done in this area, the author elected to conduct a qualitative rather than a quantitative investigation. Rather than collecting rating scale data, or other kinds of data that could be translated into numbers and then analyzed statistically, the approach was to gather as much in-depth information as possible about the experience of children who live with a sibling who has ADHD.
This was done by conducting a series of in-depth interviews with children and parents in 11 families. These families were participants in a larger study on the family experience of living with a child with ADHD. Thirteen non-ADHD siblings, 11 biological mothers, 5 biological fathers, 2 stepfathers, and 12 boys with ADHD each participated in 2 individual interviews and 2 family interviews. Eight of the 13 non-ADHD siblings were younger than their ADHD brother and 5 were older. Seven were boys and 6 were girls. The average age of the boys with ADHD in these families was 10. None of the children with ADHD were girls. Five of the boys diagnosed with ADHD had also been diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant Disorder. Three of the families were of low income and receiving federal assistance. The other 8 families were of either middle or upper middle socioeconomic status.
In addition to collecting data by interview, written diaries were also kept by the non-ADHD siblings. These children were asked to write in there diaries once a week for 8 weeks regarding their account of a critical incident - either particularly good or particularly bad - that related to ADHD. These diaries, along with the interviews that were were audiotaped and transcribed, formed the data base that was used to examine common themes in the lives of siblings. The goal was to identify the major themes that emerged across the accounts of the 13 different siblings who participated.
The author emphasizes that the findings to emerge represent only one possible account of the sibling experience, and should be considered as tentative. Because these accounts were provided spontaneously by siblings themselves, however, it is reasonable to believe that they capture important aspects of the experience for many children.
From the massive amount of data collected - over 3000 pages were transcribed - 3 major categories of the sibling experience were identified. These categories were disruption, effects of disruption, and strategies for managing disruption. An overview of the experiences represented by these different categories is presented below. An extremely rich set of descriptive data was presented, and I will do my best to capture this for you.
DISRUPTION
Disruption caused by the symptoms and behavior of their brother with ADHD was the most central and significant problem identified by the siblings. Children described their family life as chaotic, conflictual, and exhausting. Living with a sibling with ADHD meant never knowing what to expect next, and children did not expect this to end.
Seven types of disruptive behavior were identified. These included: physical and verbal aggression, out-of-control hyperactivity, emotional and social immaturity, academic underachievement and learning problems, family conflicts, poor peer relationships, and difficult relationships with extended family. These are the different problem areas that the siblings of ADHD brothers indicated as being most disruptive to their lives and to their family.
Although these types of disruption were reported consistently across the 13 siblings, there were, of course, important differences in the extent to which children reported themselves to be adversely affected. Children who were most affected lived in families where the sibling with ADHD was an adolescent, with more than one sibling or a parent who had ADHD, and where the sibling with ADHD was more aggressive which went along with having ODD in addition to ADHD. Among all siblings, however, it was clear that that the vast majority of family disruptions were attributed to their brother with ADHD.
There were several different types of disruptive patterns that were identified. These included the child with ADHD doing something that needed immediate attention, younger siblings mimicking disruptive behavior, seeking revenge on the sib with ADHD, or parents allowing the child with ADHD to "run wild". Children described family life as focusing on their sibling with ADHD and of constantly having to adjust to the disruption and the negative effects it had on themselves and family life.
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