SIBLING EMPATHY AND BEHAVIORAL-ADJUSTMENT OF CHILDREN WITH CHRONIC ILLNESS

This study investigated the relationship of healthy siblings' empathy to the psychosocial adjustment of children with a congenital heart dis ease (CHD) in 28 sibling dyads aged 3.5-11 years, as well as the perce ived quality of sibling interactions, reported by mothers and children with illness. As in previous studies, children with CHD were reported to have more behaviour problems in the clinical range than either sib lings or normative populations. On the basis of a task unconnected wit h illness issues, siblings were assigned to a high or low empathy grou p. Children with illness, but not their mothers, saw the siblings with high empathy more positively than those with low empathy. However, th e adjustment of the children with illness did not differ between high and low empathy groups. Findings suggest the need to seek children's p oints of view when studying psychosocial effects of paediatric conditi ons.