Differential parental communication with adolescents who are disabled and their healthy siblings

To examine the levels of parental communication and differential conversational styles with adolescents who are disabled and their healthy siblings, to better understand why the adolescent who is disabled has a higher risk of psychosocial problems during the transition into adulthood.

Families who had a disabled adolescent and at least one other adolescent who was not disabled were videorecorded during dinner at home. Twenty adolescents (12 girls and 8 boys) and their families participated. Analyses were conducted on the 392 interactions.

Not only did the healthy adolescents participate in family interactions at higher frequencies than the adolescents who were disabled F(1, 383) = 14.00, p < .001, but the interactions were also more meaningful with healthy adolescents, F(2, 383) = 5.25, p < .01. Furthermore, healthy siblings had significantly greater conversational control than did their siblings with disabilities, chi2 (1) = 14.36, p < .001. Parents responded more negatively when adolescents who were disabled initiated a topic in comparison with their response to the healthy siblings, F(2, 69) = 5.44, p < .01. Finally, adolescents with disabilities were ignored more often than their healthy siblings, z = -3.75, p < .001, and they did not monopolize the conversation as often as did their healthy siblings, z = -3.91, p < .001.

These results suggest that adolescents who are disabled may be at a disadvantage when engaged in family interactions in contrast with their healthy siblings.