Virginia Tech, 309 Wallace Hall, United States.
Res Dev Disabil. 2019 Sep;92:103451. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2019.103451. Epub 2019 Jul 20.
Although clinicians have hypothesized that siblings of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD), may exhibit more empathy and understanding of others, no studies have yet examined empathy among siblings of individuals with ASD.
The current study examined self- reported empathy and feelings about adolescents' brothers or sisters with and without ASD.
Adolescent siblings (age 12-18) of individuals with (n=26) or without ASD (n=48) completed an online survey with measures of empathy and their feelings about their brother or sister, as well as an open ended task asking them for three "magic wishes."
Siblings of individuals with ASD (ASD- Sibs) reported significantly more perspective-taking than did siblings of typically-developing individuals (TD-Sibs). Perspective-taking was significantly related to feelings of positive affect toward the brother/sister for both groups. ASD-Sibs also were significantly more likely to report wishes related to their family, while TD-Sibs reported more wishes for themselves.
Findings suggest that potentially higher levels of perspective-taking ability among ASD-Sibs may contribute to better understanding of and therefore more positive affect toward their brother or sister with ASD. More research is needed to understand patterns of empathy among ASD-Sibs.
尽管临床医生假设，包括自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）在内的智力和发育障碍患者的兄弟姐妹可能对他人表现出更多的同理心和理解，但目前尚无研究探讨 ASD 患者兄弟姐妹的同理心。
本研究考察了青少年对有和没有 ASD 的兄弟姐妹的自我报告同理心和感受。
患有（n=26）或没有 ASD（n=48）的个体的青少年兄弟姐妹（年龄 12-18 岁）完成了一项在线调查，其中包括同理心和对兄弟姐妹的感受的测量，以及一项要求他们提出三个“魔法愿望”的开放性任务。
与具有典型发育的个体的兄弟姐妹（TD-Sibs）相比，ASD 患者的兄弟姐妹（ASD-Sibs）报告的观点采择明显更多。对于两个群体，观点采择都与对兄弟姐妹的积极情感显著相关。ASD-Sibs 也更有可能报告与家庭相关的愿望，而 TD-Sibs 则更有可能报告与自己相关的愿望。
研究结果表明，ASD-Sibs 中潜在的更高水平的观点采择能力可能有助于更好地理解和因此对他们患有 ASD 的兄弟姐妹产生更积极的情感。需要进一步研究以了解 ASD-Sibs 之间同理心的模式。
