Brief report: Psychological symptoms in healthy female siblings of adolescents with and without chronic conditions

Objective: To examine the psychological impact of having a sibling with a c hronic condition on healthy adolescent females and to explore the potential moderating role of birth order on this relationship. Method: We compared selected Brief Symptom Index subscales (anxiety, depres sion, interpersonal sensitivity, hostility) and global severity scores (CSI ) in two groups of healthy, inner-city female adolescents matched for sibli ng age, gender, birth order, and age spacing: 34 sisters of males and femal es ages 13-19 years with chronic health conditions (ILLSIBS) and 34 sisters of males and females in the same age range without conditions (WELLSIBS). Results: ILLSIBS generally had more symptoms than WELLSIBS. MANOVA yielded significant three-way interactions of sibling illness status, birth order, and gender for the anxiety, hostility, and GSI. A similar pattern was nonsi gnificant for the two other subscales. Among younger sisters in general and among older sisters of males only, ILLSIBS had higher scores; however, ILL SIBS who were older sisters of females did not differ significantly in symp tom levels from the comparable group of WELLSIBS. Conclusions: Psychological symptoms in sisters of inner-city, male and fema le adolescents are related to sibling health status. However, the combinati on of sibling gender and birth order may modify this relationship and shoul d be considered when evaluating psychological risk or designing interventio ns.