Corinne Jackman (Johnson) and Dr. Barbara Mandleco, Brigham Young University College of Nursing

The purpose of my research was to see if 1) there is a difference in parental perceptions of parenting styles and sibling relationships according to parent gender, sibling gender and type of disability as well as to 2) examine whether or not there is a linkage between parenting styles and sibling relationships in families raising a child with a disability (CWD). We studied autism, mental retardation, an orthopedic condition, other (deafness, blindness), and multiple disabilities.

Using information from the already IRB approved Families Adapting to Disabilities Project; we analyzed mothers’ and fathers’ perceptions of their parenting practices (authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive) and one sibling’s relationship with the CWD. Data from the 62-item Parenting Practices Report (Robinson, Mandleco, Olsen, & Hart, 1995) and the 28-item Schaefer Sibling Inventory of Behavior (Schaefer & Edgerton, 1981) were analyzed using descriptive statistics, a t test, correlations, and ANOVA. Both instruments are reliable and valid: Cronbach’s alpha scores for the parenting measure are .91 (authoritative), .87 (authoritarian) and .75 (permissive) for mothers and .88 (authoritative), .86 (authoritarian) and .75 (permissive) for fathers. Cronbach’s alpha scores for the sibling relationship measure are kindness (mothers (m) =.86, fathers (f)=.85), avoidance (m=.84, f=.77), involvement (m=.88, f=.89), and empathy (m=.88, f=.87). Our information came from 124 mothers and 108 fathers. The distribution of the sample is as follows: 18.8% control, 19.8% autism, 11.7% multiple disabilities, 22.3% mental retardation, 17.3% an orthopedic condition, and 7.6% other.

From analyzing the difference in parenting styles and sibling relationships dependent on parent gender we found that the mothers (M = 3.88) were more authoritative than fathers (M = 3.70; F = 10.83, p < .001). We also found that fathers (M = 3.55) perceived that the sibling of the CWD was kinder than the mothers perceived them to be (M = 3.46; F = 4.90, p < .05).

Analysis of the parents perceptions of the sibling relationship characteristics based on the gender of the sibling showed that mothers believed the female sibling to be more involved (M = 3.59) than the male siblings (M = 3.28; t = -2.44, p < .05). They also believed the female siblings (M = 4.26) to be more empathetic than the male (M = 3.92; t -2.88, p < .01). Fathers also perceived the female (M = 4.15) siblings to be more empathetic than the male siblings (M = 3.85; t = -2.39, p < .05). In comparison, mothers rated the empathy and involvement of female siblings higher than the fathers. One could speculate that these results reflect the stereotypical roles of the parents. Mothers are home more and consequently witness more deeds done by the child; they likely ask the siblings for help in caring for the CWD and witness all the sibling does. Plausibly, fathers come home later and only witness a small portion of the sibling’s actions.

When comparing parenting styles and sibling relationship characteristics depending on whether the parents are raising a typically developing child or a CWD and what disability that child possesses we found significant results. Parents who are raising a child with an orthopedic condition (M = 2.22) were more authoritarian than the other disabilities (autism M = 1.93, multiple disabilities M = 1.83, mental retardation M = 1.93) and the control group (M = 1.96; F = 2.65, p < .05). This could be due to the intellectual disability seen in autism, multiple disabilities, and mental retardation that are not usually seen in children with orthopedic conditions or in control group families that were raising typically developing children. Parents may feel that since the child is not intellectually disabled they are more accountable and therefore the parents can be more authoritarian. Further analysis showed siblings of children with multiple disabilities (M = 3.89; F = 5.99, p < .001) are more kind than the siblings of children with autism (M = 3.73), mental retardation (M = 3.64), other disabilities (M = 3.16), orthopedic conditions (M = 3.44), or of normal development (M = 3.18). The siblings of children with autism are the second most kind, followed by those of children with mental retardation.

The correlations of parenting and sibling relationship variables were as predicted with authoritative parenting having a positive relationship with kindness (Mothers: r = .39; p < .01; Fathers: r = .24), involvement (Mothers: r = .27; p < .01; Fathers: r = .24; p < .05), and empathy (Mothers: r = .45; p < .01; Fathers: r = .44; p < .05) in both mothers and fathers. Also, Authoritarian parenting had a negative relationship with kindness (Mothers: r = -.18; p < .05; Fathers: r = -.37; p < .05), involvement (Mothers: r = -.02; Fathers: r = -.31; p < .01), and empathy (Mothers: r = -.23; p < .05; Fathers: r = -.34; p < .05).

These finding can help parents of a CWD to find the best parenting practice for them. However, more research is needed. An extended literature review may help one understand why we obtained these results. It would also be beneficial to conduct similar studies with families that are demographically different than what the majority of our sample was. This would allow a broader perspective of the impact of parenting in all types of families as it reduces many confounding factors. It would be interesting to look at the influence that the number of siblings had on the parenting styles and sibling characteristics. A look at each sibling may also be something worthy of note.

With a large number of families raising a CWD and the great importance that the family unit has, it is vital that the knowledge base continue to grow as more research is done to understand these circumstances. It has been a life changing experience to take part in such significant building.

References

• Robinson, Mandleco, Olsen, & Hart (1995). Authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive parenting practices: Development of a new measure. Psychological Reports, 77(3), 819.
• Schaefer, E., & Edgerton, M. (1981). The sibling inventory of behavior. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina.