Zahl Erica, Cogo-Moreira Hugo, Fredriksen Trude, Kirchhofer Solveig, Orm Stian, Vatne Torun, Botta Matteo, Fjermestad Krister
Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Østfold University College Faculty of Education, Fredrikstad, Norway.
Front Psychol. 2024 Dec 24;15:1501343. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1501343. eCollection 2024.
When a child has a disability, their families face significant challenges that also impact parents' and siblings' mental health and adjustment. We examined the potential bidirectional relationships between parental mental health and sibling mental health and adjustment in families of children with a disability.
We utilized baseline and 12-month follow-up data from a randomized controlled trial of a brief intervention designed to enhance parent-sibling communication in families of children with a disability. The sample comprised 214 siblings aged 8-16 years and their parents ( = 203 mothers, = 124 fathers). We estimated bivariate latent change score models to examine the longitudinal cross-domain associations between changes in parental mental health and changes in sibling mental health, and changes in parental mental health and sibling adjustment.
The results showed that changes in maternal mental health and sibling adjustment over the 12-month period were correlated ( = 0.22). The cross-domain associations between changes in maternal mental health and sibling mental health and adjustment were not statistically significant in any of the two models. However, baseline sibling mental health had nearly doubled impact on changes in maternal mental health ( = 0.232, = 0.061) compared to maternal health's impact on sibling mental health ( = -0.134, = 0.289). Models with paternal mental health data unfortunately did not run due to low paternal response rate at 12-months.
The findings suggest that whereas maternal mental health and sibling adjustment changes are correlated over time, the relationship between maternal and sibling measures does not necessarily operate bidirectionally. Future studies on family mental health dynamics should include data from fathers that may contribute to a broader understanding of these complex relationships.
当孩子患有残疾时，他们的家庭面临重大挑战，这也会影响父母和兄弟姐妹的心理健康及适应情况。我们研究了残疾儿童家庭中父母心理健康与兄弟姐妹心理健康及适应情况之间潜在的双向关系。
我们利用了一项随机对照试验的基线和12个月随访数据，该试验是一项旨在加强残疾儿童家庭中亲子沟通的简短干预措施。样本包括214名8至16岁的兄弟姐妹及其父母（母亲203名，父亲124名）。我们估计了双变量潜在变化分数模型，以检验父母心理健康变化与兄弟姐妹心理健康变化之间以及父母心理健康变化与兄弟姐妹适应情况之间的纵向跨领域关联。
结果显示，在12个月期间，母亲心理健康的变化与兄弟姐妹的适应情况相关（r = 0.22）。在两个模型中的任何一个中，母亲心理健康变化与兄弟姐妹心理健康及适应情况之间的跨领域关联均无统计学意义。然而，与母亲健康对兄弟姐妹心理健康的影响（β = -0.134，SE = 0.289）相比，基线时兄弟姐妹的心理健康对母亲心理健康变化的影响几乎翻倍（β = 0.232，SE = 0.061）。遗憾的是，由于父亲在12个月时的低回应率，包含父亲心理健康数据的模型未能运行。
研究结果表明，虽然母亲心理健康和兄弟姐妹适应情况的变化随时间相关，但母亲和兄弟姐妹指标之间的关系不一定是双向的。未来关于家庭心理健康动态的研究应纳入父亲的数据，这可能有助于更全面地理解这些复杂关系。
