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 While sibling bullying during childhood has long been linked to
increased risk for a variety of mental health difficulties in
adolescence, research to date hasn't offered as clear a picture of
how this plays out specifically for youth with autism, researchers
note in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.
For the current study, researchers followed 231 youth with autism
and 8,180 without the disorder from middle childhood through early
adolescence. Sibling bullying was much more common at age 11,
involving about 64% of kids with autism and 48% of children without
the disorder. By age 14, bullying involvement declined, affecting
36% of kids with autism and 33% of children without it.
"There is a decrease in sibling bullying involvement from the age of
11 to 14 years for both children with and without autism," said Umar
Toseeb, lead author of the study and a researcher at the University
of York in the UK.
"But children with autism are still more likely to be involved in
two-way sibling bullying," Toseeb said by email. "And being involved
in sibling bullying at age 11 years is associated with more
emotional and behavioral difficulties at age 14."
Early symptoms of autism can vary but may include repetitive
behaviors like hand flapping or body rocking, extreme resistance to
changes in routine, and sometimes aggression or self-injury.
Behavioral, educational, speech and language therapy may help reduce
the severity of autism symptoms in some children - but some symptoms
still can lead to difficulties with social and emotional behavior
well into adolescence and adulthood.
To understand how bullying impacts the lives of children with and
without autism, researchers questioned children about how often they
were picked on or purposely hurt by their siblings and peers and how
often they were the perpetrators of such acts.
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Researchers also asked parents about children's emotional and
behavioral difficulties, such as whether the child was unhappy,
downhearted or restless.
Whether or not they had autism, children involved in sibling
bullying were more likely to experience emotional and behavioral
difficulties, the study found.
But because sibling bullying disproportionately affects kids with
autism, they may be harder hit by this exposure over the long term,
the authors conclude. This is particularly true for kids with autism
who are involved in sibling bullying at home as well as peer
bullying at school.
Because sibling bullying disproportionately affects children with
autism, the researchers are calling for more resources to help
children with autism and their parents identify and deal with
bullying behaviors in the home, particularly earlier in childhood.
The study wasn't designed to prove whether or how bullying might
directly impact emotional or behavioral health, or how this might
play out differently for kids with autism.
Even so, the results suggest that parents need to recognize the
difference between normal squabbling among siblings and bullying,
which may involve persistent emotional mistreatment and not
necessarily physical aggression, the study team notes.
"Persistent conflicts between siblings may be indicative of sibling
bullying and this should not be viewed as a normal part of growing
up," Toseeb said.
SOURCE: https://bit.ly/2Ya94JO Journal of Autism and Developmental
Disorders, online July 22, 2019.
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