Examining the Mental Health of Siblings of Children with a Mental Disorder: A Scoping Review.

Mental disorders tend to cluster within families, yet the majority of research focuses on one child per family. There is a paucity of research examining the impact of a child's mental disorder on siblings. This scoping review addresses the following questions: (i) How do mental disorders in children impact the mental health of their sibling(s)? (ii) Which resources exist that address the needs of siblings of children with mental disorders? We searched eight databases for empirical studies and screened for those published since 2011. n = 27 studies were included; n = 21 studies addressed research question one and n = 6 addressed research question two. Pertaining to research question one, quantitative studies found that siblings of children with mental disorders are at risk for developing mental health problems or psychopathology themselves and experience a wide range of symptoms across many diagnostic categories. Qualitative studies reported siblings' negative emotions and experiences (e.g., confusion about child's disorder, fearful of violence from the child). Pertaining to research question two, we found a paucity of research (n = 6 studies) that assessed resources or interventions for siblings, indicating that there is likely a lack of interventions available for siblings. Future research should look to use more robust quantitative study designs (e.g., longitudinal, mixed-methods) in diverse samples and qualitative methodologies that can investigate particularly concerning instances. While we did identify that sibling interventions exist, those created with sibling and family voices may be better positioned to address sibling's needs.