University of Queensland, Australia.
J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2011 Jun;52(6):713-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2011.02389.x. Epub 2011 Mar 18.
Research indicates that having child siblings is positively associated with theory of mind (ToM) in typically developing children. As ToM is important to everyday social behaviours it is important to extend this research to examine whether there are similar sibling effects for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
Theory of mind and executive functioning abilities of 60 children clinically diagnosed with ASD were assessed with batteries of standard tasks. Verbal mental age (VMA) and severity of autism symptoms were also measured together with number of child-aged siblings (1 to 12 years) and position in the sibling constellation.
Having older siblings was a significant negative predictor of ToM performance for children with ASD, even after controlling for age, VMA, executive function and autism symptom severity. A weaker ToM benefit of younger siblings was not statistically significant independently of control variables.
In sharp contrast to findings for typically developing preschoolers, having an older sibling was a disadvantage for ToM development in children with ASD. Conceivably, older siblings may over-compensate for their younger ASD siblings in social interactions, thereby limiting opportunities for social-cognitive growth. Parental attitudes, family resources, cultural norms and access to educational interventions may also conceivably be relevant and clearly warrant further research.
研究表明，对于正常发育的儿童来说，有兄弟姐妹会对心理理论（Theory of Mind，ToM）产生积极影响。由于 ToM 对日常社交行为很重要，因此将此类研究扩展到自闭症谱系障碍（Autism Spectrum Disorder，ASD）儿童，以检验是否存在类似的兄弟姐妹效应就显得尤为重要。
采用一系列标准任务，对 60 名经临床诊断患有 ASD 的儿童的心理理论和执行功能能力进行了评估。同时还测量了他们的言语心理年龄（Verbal Mental Age，VMA）和自闭症症状严重程度，以及兄弟姐妹的数量（1 至 12 岁）和兄弟姐妹在家庭中的排行。
即使在控制年龄、VMA、执行功能和自闭症症状严重程度等因素后，有年龄较大的兄弟姐妹仍然是 ASD 儿童心理理论表现的显著负预测因素。而年幼兄弟姐妹的心理理论获益较小，且不受控制变量的影响，这一结果在统计学上并不显著。
与正常发育的学龄前儿童的研究结果形成鲜明对比的是，对于 ASD 儿童来说，有年龄较大的兄弟姐妹会对其心理理论发展产生不利影响。可以想象，年长的兄弟姐妹在社交互动中可能会过度补偿他们年幼的 ASD 兄弟姐妹，从而限制了他们的社会认知成长机会。父母的态度、家庭资源、文化规范以及获得教育干预的机会等因素也可能是相关的，显然值得进一步研究。
