Sibling Bullying and Mental Health in Autistic Adolescents: An Examination of British and Turkish Families

Sibling bullying is highly prevalent and associated with a range of mental health difficulties. However, the question of whether this is a direct link or an indirect correlation remains unclear. In addition, families where a child is autistic appear to be at heightened risk for sibling bullying, though this population remains under-researched. Moreover, findings from single-culture research indicate varying rates of sibling bullying across cultures, though, to date, there is no cross-cultural understanding of sibling bullying. Finally, Covid-19 holds the potential to trigger sibling bullying, but there is no research yet examining this issue.

To close this knowledge gap, this thesis investigates the dynamics of sibling bullying in families of autistic adolescents from a Western (United Kingdom) and non-Western (Turkey) culture during Covid-19. It uses primary data from parents of 299 British and 171 Turkish autistic adolescents and secondary data from 416 British autistic adolescents.

Findings indicate that about two-thirds of autistic adolescents are involved in sibling bullying, with British ones showing slightly higher rates than their Turkish peers. In addition, sibling bullying appears to be indirectly linked to mental health through detrimental social behaviours (British & Turkish) and emotional regulation and self-esteem (British). Also, individual and family-level correlates of sibling bullying vary between British and Turkish cultures. Finally, Covid-19 seems to have had triple impacts on sibling relationships – negative, positive, and no impact – with its negative impact triggering instances of sibling conflict.

To conclude, British autistic adolescents are at an increased risk for being involved in sibling bullying than their Turkish peers. Additionally, sibling bullying indirectly leads to mental health difficulties through social and emotional dysfunction, and this indirect link varies across cultures. Also, varying risk factors of sibling bullying across cultures highlight the need for culturally sensitive prevention strategies. Finally, there is an increased need for effective prevention strategies due to the heightened risk of sibling bullying during Covid-19.