PURPOSE OF REVIEW The psychosocial needs of adolescent and young adult (AYA) siblings of cancer patients are easily overlooked. Accordingly, the evidence base informing short and long-term outcomes for these young people is sparse. This review provides an overview of recent research highlighting the experiences, unmet needs and psychosocial issues of AYA siblings, together with recent intervent...

OBJECTIVES To compare peer relationships among bereaved siblings and matched classmates, and to examine gender, grade level, and time since death as moderators. METHODS Families were recruited from cancer registries at four hospitals 3-12 months after a child's death. Measures of social behavior and peer acceptance were completed by children in the classrooms of 105 bereaved siblings (ages 8-...

OBJECTIVE Siblings of pediatric cancer patients have been shown to be at risk for developing emotional, behavioral, and social problems. There is a need for psychological interventions in this population. Several researchers have previously documented and evaluated their interventions with siblings. This paper aimed at reviewing the existing reports of evaluated psychological interventions with...

The potential association between sibship characteristics and the risk of schizophrenia has been investigated previously. However, methods have differed and results have been conflicting. The authors explored the association between birth order, sibship size, and birth interval to siblings and schizophrenia while accounting for potential confounders. Using Danish Civil Registration System data,...

This paper examines how skills are shaped by social interactions in schools and families. We focus on critical course choices in high school and naturally occurring peer groups. We overcome the identification challenges of estimating peer effects in education by exploiting exogenous variation in choice sets. First, we analyze a universal free-choice reform causing a fall in math-science skills....

This study uses data from the Ontario Health Survey to examine within-family influences (sibship number, age and sex composition; family structure and parental substance use) on the use of tobacco, alcohol and marijuana in households (N = 4,643) among offspring aged 12 to 24 years. Using a modification of the kappa statistic, concordance among siblings is modest generally and undifferentiated a...

BACKGROUND The relatives of individuals with schizophrenia exhibit deficits of overall frontal lobe volume, consistent with a genetic contribution to these deficits. AIMS To quantify the structure of gyral-defined subregions of prefrontal cortex in individuals with schizophrenia and their siblings. METHOD Grey matter volume, cortical thickness, and surface area of the superior, middle and i...

This study investigated the prospective links of negative life events and parent-child closeness with depressive symptoms among siblings using a multilevel modeling approach with a genetically informative design. The sample consisted of 756 adolescents (378 sibling pairs) who participated in two waves of the Nonshared Environment in Adolescent Development Project. Sibling pairs with varying deg...

Families of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) face many challenges unique to their situation. Though much of the attention has focused on parents, there is significant literature to suggest that siblings are also impacted. Studies have shown that siblings of children with disabilities experience decreased parental attention, increased responsibilities in terms of child-care and hou...

Studies are needed to better understand the broad autism phenotype in young siblings of children with autism. Cognitive, adaptive, social, imitation, play, and language abilities were examined in 42 non-autistic siblings and 20 toddlers with no family history of autism, ages 18-27 months. Siblings, as a group, were below average in expressive language and composite IQ, had lower mean receptive ...