BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Patent foramen ovale (PFO) is a frequent finding in young patients with stroke. The aim of this study was to assess whether PFO is a family trait. METHODS Sixty-two consecutive patients younger than 60 years of age with ischemic stroke and 62 age and gender-matched control siblings were examined by means of contrast transcranial Doppler (TCD) of the middle cerebral arte...

Chronic fatigue syndrome or myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) is a disabling condition known to have a negative impact on all aspects of a child's life. However, little is understood about the impact of CFS/ME on siblings. A total of 34 siblings completed questionnaires measuring depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)), anxiety (HADS and Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS)...

The search for genes conferring liability for schizophrenia may be aided by the identification of endophenotypes. Response selection is a heritable cognitive function that is impaired in patients with schizophrenia and their unaffected siblings. The abnormalities in cerebral function that presumably underlie the deficit in patients and unaffected siblings remain to be elucidated. Cerebral neuro...

Ample studies have established that parents as well as peers function as role models in the development of adolescents' alcohol use. The role of siblings, however, has been largely neglected despite the long-term nature of a sibling relationship. The present study examined the impact of siblings on drinking behavior of adolescents using longitudinal data from 416 sibling dyads. Moreover, we exp...

Objective: To assess cognitive performance and psychosocial functioning in patients with bipolar disorder (BD), in unaffected siblings, and in healthy controls. Methods: Subjects were patients with BD (n=36), unaffected siblings (n=35), and healthy controls (n=44). Psychosocial functioning was accessed using the Functioning Assessment Short Test (FAST). A sub-group of patients with BD (n=21),...

The purpose of this study was the exploration of attitudes toward disabled brothers/sisters in 140 typically developed siblings (13-18 years) with brothers or sisters with Down syndrome (DS), autism (AUT), or intellectual disability (ID). Results showed that siblings of brothers/sisters with DS thought that they could “be entered into the world of work” and “achieve personal autonomy”; siblings...

OBJECTIVE Family-based treatment models that have shown effectiveness with juvenile offenders may also lead to reduced criminality in siblings of those offenders. However, the lasting effects of such treatments on siblings have not been evaluated. In the present study, the authors examined criminal outcomes for siblings of serious and violent juvenile offenders who had participated on average 2...

Guided by research and theory on sibling similarities and differences, this study explored the nature and correlates of two processes of sibling influence-social learning and sibling differentiation-during adolescence. Participants included two adolescent-aged siblings (M = 16.29 years for older siblings and M = 12.59 years for younger siblings, respectively) from 166 two-parent African America...

The goal of the current study was to further investigate the late neurodevelopmental hypothesis of schizophrenia by examining cross-sectional, age-related changes in cognitive function among young adult: 1) siblings of individuals with schizophrenia (N = 66); (2) healthy control participants (N = 77); and (3) the siblings of healthy controls (N = 77). All subjects participated in a battery of t...