Mentally retarded adults and their siblings.

Abstract

The relationships of 35 community-based mildly mentally retarded adults and their siblings were examined through participant-observation techniques over an 18-month period. Five kinds of sibling relationships were identified based on the independent ranking of each sibling pair on a continuum that reflected three major relationship dimensions: warmth, frequency of contact, and degree of involvement. These relationships were described as were some general patterns that seem to have the greatest impact on relations between retarded adults and their siblings.