Factors related to the adjustment of siblings following sudden infant death

Participants in this study were 119 siblings of children who had died from
sudden infant death and their parents. This non-representative self-selected
group, were profiled as 11 year old boys or girls from middle or uppermiddle
class intact families whose siblings had died a sudden death about
7 years before the study. The average age of mothers who participated were
in their late 30s and the average age of fathers were in the early 50s, with a
third of families being rurally based and the rest living in urban settings.
18% obtained T-scores above the cut-off of 63 on the total problem scale
of the Child Behaviour Checklist. These cIjnical cases had lower selfesteem
and a more external locus of control compared with the rest of the
group. Their fathers and mothers also had lower self-esteem and their
mothers were more poorly psychologically adjusted. Compared with the
non-clinical group, both mothers and fathers in the clinical group perceived
marked problems in family functioning. From a wide range of measures of
personal, parental and family characteristics, siblings' self-esteem, maternal
mental health and siblings' locus of control were identified in a series of
stepwise multiple regression analyses as the most significant predictors of
siblings' adjustment.