Łada-Maśko Ariadna, Sajewicz-Radtke Urszula, Jurek Paweł, Olech Michał, Radtke Bartosz M, Lipowska Małgorzata
Institute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland.
Laboratory of Psychological and Educational Tests, Gdańsk, Poland.
Front Psychol. 2025 Apr 23;16:1555879. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1555879. eCollection 2025.
The presence of a child with a disability significantly affects family dynamics introducing new responsibilities and altering roles. However, research also highlights the positive outcomes, such as increased family cohesion and stronger bonds among family members. Siblings face unique challenges, including emotional burdens and adjustment difficulties, which are influenced by factors such as age, severity of the disability, and parental attitudes. While some siblings develop empathy and nurture traits, others struggle with internalizing and externalizing problems. This study investigated whether families exhibit distinct interaction patterns based on the presence and type of a child's disability, considering the perspectives of healthy siblings and parents.
The study comprised 179 dyads, each consisting of a healthy adolescent sibling of a child with a disability or chronic illness and one of their parents ( = 358). The sample included 49 families of children with diabetes, 49 with intellectual disabilities, 28 with motor disabilities, and 53 healthy children. To assess interaction patterns within families, the following measures were used: the Questionnaire of Relationships with Siblings to evaluate relationships between healthy adolescents and their siblings, the Parentification Questionnaire for Youth to measure emotional and instrumental parentification, the KidScreen-27 to assess quality of life, the Parental Attitude Scale-2 to assess parental attitudes, and the Family Rating Scales to evaluate family dynamics, including the structure and quality of family interactions. Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) was used to analyze data.
We identified two latent profiles: "Strained Families" profile, which featured lower-quality family interactions with parents displaying greater rejection, inconsistent, and overdemanding attitudes, and the "Resilient Families" profile reflected balanced functioning with greater cohesion and flexibility. The "Strained Families" profile was more prevalent (57%). No significant differences in profile frequencies were found across the groups.
Both profiles included families with children with motor disabilities, intellectual disabilities, or diabetes and healthy children. Therefore, the results suggest that family interaction patterns varied independently of the presence of a child with a disability. Notably, 64% of the families with healthy children exhibited the "Strained Families" profile, marked by lower-quality interactions and family functioning, suggesting that such interactions are not exclusive to families of children with disabilities.
家中有残疾儿童会显著影响家庭动态，带来新的责任并改变角色。然而，研究也凸显了一些积极成果，比如家庭凝聚力增强以及家庭成员之间的关系更紧密。兄弟姐妹面临着独特的挑战，包括情感负担和适应困难，这些会受到年龄、残疾严重程度以及父母态度等因素的影响。虽然一些兄弟姐妹会培养出同理心和关爱他人的特质，但另一些则会出现内化和外化问题。本研究从健康的兄弟姐妹和父母的角度出发，调查了家庭是否会因孩子残疾的存在与否及类型而呈现出不同的互动模式。
该研究包括179对组合，每对组合由一名患有残疾或慢性病孩子的健康青少年兄弟姐妹及其父母中的一方组成（共358人）。样本包括49个患有糖尿病孩子的家庭、49个患有智力残疾孩子的家庭、28个患有运动残疾孩子的家庭以及53个健康孩子的家庭。为了评估家庭内部的互动模式，使用了以下测量工具：《与兄弟姐妹关系问卷》来评估健康青少年与其兄弟姐妹之间的关系，《青少年亲职化问卷》来测量情感和亲职化工具性，《儿童生活质量量表（27项）》来评估生活质量，《父母态度量表 - 2》来评估父母态度，以及《家庭评定量表》来评估家庭动态，包括家庭互动的结构和质量。采用潜在类别分析（LPA）对数据进行分析。
我们识别出两种潜在类别：“紧张型家庭”类别，其特点是家庭互动质量较低，父母表现出更多的拒绝、不一致和过度要求的态度；“适应良好型家庭”类别则反映出功能平衡，具有更强的凝聚力和灵活性。“紧张型家庭”类别更为普遍（57%）。各群体在类别频率上未发现显著差异。
这两种类别都包括有运动残疾、智力残疾或糖尿病孩子的家庭以及健康孩子的家庭。因此，研究结果表明家庭互动模式的变化与残疾孩子的存在与否无关。值得注意的是，64%有健康孩子的家庭呈现出“紧张型家庭”类别，其特点是互动质量和家庭功能较低，这表明这种互动并非残疾孩子家庭所特有。
