(Mal)adaptive sibling self and other communicative resilience in the context of parental substance use

Abstract

Abstract Managing parental substance use disorder (SUD) within the family context is a collaborative effort. For families with multiple children, the sibling relationship might be one source of support for dealing with this stressor. Findings from a sample of adult siblings with parents with SUD highlighted that they (a) experience five resilience triggers, (b) utilize self and other communicative resilience (CR) processes, and (c) experience a tensional process in which CR can be both adaptive, maladaptive, and simultaneously both. Overall, we advance the communication theory of resilience by (a) being the first to apply the other-resilience heuristic, (b) exploring relationships between self-resilience and other-resilience, (c) introducing a new CR tension, and (d) discussing the potential benefit of engaging in what we call strategic resilience. By analyzing the resilience processes of adult siblings experiencing parental SUD, we also recommend practical applications for social workers, providers, and counselors.