WPA Heidi Poster 06 final

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1 in 5 children suffer from a mental health disorder Internalizing disorders are understudied; there is a lot to learn about what causes them, and the effects they have on an individual Anxiety: Most common mental disorder in children, affecting 13% of the U.S. population (Children’s Mental Health Facts [CMHF], 2003) Depression: Affects 2% of children and 8% of adolescents (CMHF, 2003) Parent and peer relationships have been widely studied but relationships among siblings have not Many people in the United States have at least one sibling that they interact with daily during their childhood years, which is a crucial time in development. The understanding of this relationship and how it contributes to the well-being of an individual is necessary to fully comprehend why these disorders arise and how they can be treated. The current study focuses on the association of positive and negative sibling relationship variables and how they relate to internalizing psychopathology. Positive contributions sibling relationships have on childhood development Positive sibling relationships can also have positive effects on friendships and self-esteem (Yeh & Lempers, 2004). Effects of negative sibling relationships on childhood development Aggressive siblings are also more aggressive with others, have poor peer relationships, and have more behavior problems at school (Stormshak, Bellanti, & Bierman, 1996). Sibling problem behavior and conflict is also related to more adjustment problems in adolescence (Branje et al., 2004) and more loneliness (Ponzetti & James, 1997). Sibling relationships and internalizing psychopathology Sibling problem behavior and internalizing symptoms are related in adolescents (Branje et al., 2004). Sibling negativity is also related to internalizing symptoms (Deater-Deckard, Dunn, & Lussier, 2002). Negative sibling relationships and anxiety: Sibling conflict is correlated with anxiety more so for boys than girls and for children with a younger sister (Stocker et al., 2002). Negative sibling relationships and depression: Sibling conflict is also correlated with depression more strongly for boys than girls (Stocker et al., 2002). Sibling Interactions in Relationship to Internalizing Child Psychopathology Heidi A. Rishel, Lorain Moorehead, Lisa Doelger, Karina R. Horowitz, Kathryn Lemery-Chalfant Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona Introduction Our sample consisted of 306 monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs who were between the ages of 5 and 11 (M= 8.1 years) and participated in the Wisconsin Twin Project All analyses were conducted with a sample of all Twin A's, then replicated in a sample of all Twin B's. If associations were significant in both twin samples, we reran the analysis with all twins and report those values here. Twins were assigned to the A and B groups randomly Questionnaires: Health & Behavior Questionnaire (HBQ) (Armstrong et al., 2003): Mothers and fathers (N = 639) reported on children’s symptoms of internalizing (anxiety, separation anxiety, and depression). A mean composite was formed of correlated mother and father reports Sibling Relationship Questionnaire (SRQ) (Buhrmester & Furman, 1990): Mothers and twins reported on frequency and occurrence of positive and negative behaviors in the sibling relationship. Mothers filled out questionnaires Twin reports were obtained using a puppet interview format similar to the Berkeley Puppet Interview (Measelle et al., 1998) Mean composites were formed for positive and negative aspects of the sibling relationship separately for mother (N = 306 pairs) and twin report (N = 227 pairs) Mother report positive: prosocial behavior, nurturance of sibling, nurturance by sibling, affection, companionship, intimacy, similarity, admiration of sibling, and admiration by sibling Mother report negative: dominance of sibling, dominance by sibling, antagonism, competition and quarrelling Twin report positive: prosocial, affection, companionship and similarity Twin report negative: dominance of sibling, dominance by sibling, competition, quarrelling, and antagonism Observed Interactions: Sibling relationships were videotaped during a home visit. The twins completed various tasks throughout the course of one day. Emotions, behaviors and verbalizations were coded for each task. “Snack Time”: The research assistant explained to the twins that they could choose one snack and one drink between the two of them (N = 211 pairs). A composite was formed for negative (initiated negative interaction, physical takeover with response as resistance, and verbal conflict) behavior. The positive variable was ‘cooperation and prosocial interactions’. “Playdoh”: The twins were given a playdoh machine with playdoh to play with together for 10 minutes (N = 208 pairs). The positive variable used was ‘initiated positive interaction’ and the negative variable used was ‘initiated negative interaction’. Method We performed a series of regression analyses with positive and negative composites predicting internalizing symptoms. From the SRQ mother report, negative (p < .01) and positive (p < .01) interactions significantly predicted internalizing F (2, 609) = 20.02, p < .01 when the entire sample was analyzed. Twins who had lower positive interactions and higher negative interactions had higher internalizing symptoms (Figure 1). In the twin A subsample, negative interactions significantly predicted internalizing (p < .01), and there was a trend between positive interactions and internalizing (p = .08), but both subsamples combined were significant F (2, 303) = 7.74, p < .01. In the twin B subsample, both negative (p = .01) and positive (p = .02) interactions significantly predicted internalizing F (2, 305) = 7.74, p < .01. To further understand these relationships, we predicted internalizing using the individual SRQ scales. Analyses indicate that similarity (p = .01) and admiration by sibling (p < .01) were the positive predictors of internalizing, and dominance by sibling (p = .01), antagonism (p < .01), and competition (p = .05) were the negative predictors of internalizing (Figure 2). We did not find any significant findings in the twin reports of SRQ. There were no significant positive or negative interaction predictors of internalizing using the observed measures from the Playdoh and Snack Time interactions. Since gender differences in internalizing have been reported in other studies, an ANOVA was conducted to test for differences in our sample. Interestingly, there were no significant differences on internalizing symptoms. Results Children naturally care for and teach their siblings (Brody, 2004). Older and younger siblings can teach each other better language, social, and cognitive skills, and older siblings can help their younger sibling gain higher reading and language abilities (Brody, 2004).