Perceived Parenting Styles Fail to Mediate Between Anxiety and Attachment Styles in Adult Siblings of Individuals with Developmental Disabilities

Abstract

Adult siblings of individuals with developmental disabilities often experience higher levels of anxiety than individuals in the general population. The present study tested whether perceived parenting could mediate the relationship between attachment styles and anxiety in the sibling group compared to a control group. Little association was found between perceived parenting and attachment styles or anxiety for the siblings but there were robust and expected findings for the control. Adult attachment-related-anxiety was a significant unique predictor of anxiety in the sibling group but there was no mediational role for perceived parenting. Conversely, the majority of parenting styles significantly mediated the relationship between attachment and anxiety in the control. Implications for the atypical findings in the sibling group are discussed.

The relationship between adult attachment and mental health: A meta-analysis.

“…However, in empirical investigations of the links between adult attachment orientations and mental health, there is substantial variance in the magnitude of reported associations. For example, many studies have found that attachment anxiety is highly correlated with generalized anxiety (e.g., r s ≥ .47; Bekker & Croon, 2010; English et al, 2018; O’Neill & Murray, 2016). In contrast, other studies have reported a more moderate correlation between attachment anxiety and generalized anxiety (e.g., r ≤ .24; Kidd et al, 2016; Meredith et al, 2016; Ng & Hou, 2017; Patel, 2008).…”

“…Thus, we examined whether relationship status moderated the correlation between adult attachment and mental health. That said, cohabitation with an unmarried romantic partner and marriage may have similar psychological effects, and many studies tend to report the proportion of married or cohabiting participants in total (Dagnino et al, 2017; Espeleta et al, 2017; Falgares et al, 2019; Kohlhoff & Barnett, 2013; Marques et al, 2018; Nielsen et al, 2017; O’Neill & Murray, 2016; Reizer, 2015; Segel-Karpas et al, 2013; Zech et al, 2006). Thus, we operationalized relationship status as cohabiting and/or married versus not.…”

Exploring information needs among family caregivers of children with intellectual disability in a rural area of South Africa: a qualitative study

“…In addition, the conclusions aligned with the study, which found that in Spain, parents felt responsible for the happiness of their children and developed an overprotective approach towards their care [ 52 ]. Comparably, a caretaking attachment bond mainly develops between the child and caregiver based on love, interaction, and the child’s feeling more uncomfortable in the caregiver’s absence [ 53 ]. Hence, the overprotectiveness of children with ID sometimes makes it difficult for caregivers to combine their work life and the care of their children with ID [ 52 ].…”

Uwarunkowania relacji z rodzeństwem we wczesnej dorosłości

“…O ile kwestia więzi i jej uwarunkowań we wcześniejszych latach została w pewnym stopniu zweryfikowana badawczo (Buhrmester, Furman, 1990;Buist, Deković, Prinzie, 2013;Campione-Barr, Smetana, 2010;Cruise, O'Reilly, 2014;Dunn, 1988;Faith, Elledge, Newgent, Cavell, 2015;Kitzman, Cohen, Lockwood, 2002;Stocker i in., 2002), tak późniejsze lata były do tej pory dość rzadko obiektem zainteresowania. Większość najnowszych badań dotyczących dorosłego życia rodzeństw odnosi się do sytuacji wyjątkowych, w których jedno z rodzeństwa jest niepełnosprawne fizycznie, intelektualnie bądź cierpi na zaburzenia psychicznie (Burbidge, Minnes, 2014;Burke, Lee, Arnold, Owen, 2017;Cuskelly, 2016;Ewertzon, Cronqvist, Lützén, Andershed, 2012;Hall, Rossetti, 2017;Hallion, Taylor, Roberts, 2018;Horwitz, 1993;Howlin, Moss, Savage, Bolton, Rutter, 2015;O'Neill, Murray, 2016;Rossetti, Hall, 2015;Tomeny, Ellis, Rankin, Barry, 2017). Znacznie mniej jest natomiast badań dotyczących funkcjonowania zdrowych braci i sióstr (Jensen, Whiteman, Rand, Fingerman, 2017;Mikkelson, Myers, Hannawa, 2011;Ngangana, Davis, Burns, McGee, Montgomery, 2016;Walęcka-Matyja, 2015).…”