Having a child with a disability or a developmental delay is often a stressful experience for a family. Siblings in such families may be exposed to greater stress and challenges. There is little research about the positive effects of growing up with a sibling with disabilities.
However, a new study published in Child Development by researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Toronto, examines how growing up as a sibling of a child with disabilities may nurture empathy.
This is one of the first studies to examine the possible positive effects of growing up with a sibling with a disability.
“The findings indicate that siblings of children with disabilities may have greater cognitive empathy (i.e., understanding of others’ thoughts and feelings), which is important as cognitive empathy is key for social skills.” said Yonat Rum, a postdoctoral researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Cambridge.
You can read the full synopsis here. For more sibling research, the SLN has compiled a full database of siblings studies from 1962-2016.