Non-psychopathology Related Outcomes Among Siblings of Individuals with Mental Illness: A Systematic Review
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Non‑psychopathology Related Outcomes Among Siblings of Individuals with Mental Illness: A Systematic Review Carolyn M. Shivers1 · Sophia Textoris1 Accepted: 5 October 2020 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract The current study consists of a systematic review of the quantitative literature on siblings of individuals with mental illness (MI). Despite the prevalence of mental illness, little is known about how siblings are specifically affected in areas of psychosocial, emotional, and behavioral outcomes. The review yielded 56 studies that examined outcomes such as behavior problems, the sibling relationship, caregiving experiences, and knowledge of mental illness among siblings. The majority of studies from the initial search were focused on siblings-as-comparison group, examining siblings for risk factors for developing mental illness. In total, the study samples covered a sibling age range of 6–81 and a patient age range of 4–84. About half (k = 27) of the included studies had samples primarily composed of siblings of individuals with schizophrenia, leaving other MI diagnoses such as depression, anxiety, and mood disorders underrepresented. However, results from comparison studies were mixed—half found that the MI-Sibs had fewer negative outcomes than the comparison group, and half found that MI-Sibs had more negative outcomes. Multiple factors, including female sibling gender, greater severity of MI symptoms, and belief in the patient’s ability to control their own behavior, were all related to more negative outcomes for MI-Sibs. Future work will focus on expanding the representativeness of MI-Sibs samples and analyzing experiences of both the sibling and the individual with MI. Keywords Mental illness · Siblings · Systematic review · Sibling relationship Although many researchers have examined the impact of mental illness on the family unit, many studies focus on parents or caregivers (e.g. Corrigan and Miller 2004) rather than siblings of individuals with mental illness (MI-Sibs). Among studies of MI-Sibs, many contain analyses of genetic or environmental risk and sub-clinical symptoms of MI (e.g. Sariaslan et al. 2016) to better identify etiology and early signs of various diagnoses. There are far fewer studies examining the experiences of MI-Sibs who do not have a diagnosis themselves. The current review will summarize the existing quantitative literature on the social, emotional, and behavioral outcomes for siblings of individuals with mental illness across the lifespan. For purposes of the current study, classification of mental illness will exclude neurodevelopmental disorders, as defined by the DSM-V (e.g.,
* Carolyn M. Shivers [email protected] 1
Human Development, Virginia Tech, 309 Wallace Hall, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
intellectual disabilities, autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, etc.; APA 2013).
Families of Individuals with Mental Illness Families The family literature shows that a diagnosis of MI can have broad, long-
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