Siblings of Individuals With Neurodevelopmental Conditions: Perspectives on Risk, Resiliency and Future Research Directions

Siblings of individuals with neurodevelopmental conditions (NDCs) are at increased genetic and environmental risk for poorer psychosocial and neurocognitive outcomes compared to control groups of siblings of individuals without NDCs. This narrative review presents findings to date on NDC sibling wellbeing, focusing on the psychosocial and objective cognitive functioning of siblings of persons with a range of NDCs. The transdiagnostic individual-level risk and resilience factors impacting siblings, and their associations with mental health, can be modelled and interpreted holistically within a novel neurobiopsychosocial framework of sibling wellbeing. Enriched by community consultation, the Sibling Project was the first exploration of a range of self-reported factors influencing mental health cross-sectionally and over time, adopting a dynamic bioecological approach to identify salient targets for intervention and identify pathways for future research.