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Updated: Dec 8, 2025

Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood
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The longitudinal associations between temperament and sleep during the first year of life

Isabel Morales-Muñoz1, Saara Nolvi2, Minna Virta3

  • 1Department of Public Health Solutions, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland; Institute for Mental Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom.

Infant Behavior & Development
|September 21, 2020
PubMed

Insights

Infant temperament, particularly Negative Affectivity, significantly impacts sleep development. High Negative Affectivity is a risk factor for persistent infant sleep problems throughout the first year.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Pediatric Sleep Medicine

Background:

  • Infant temperament and sleep are related but distinct, with longitudinal links unclear.
  • Understanding these links is crucial for preventing and treating early sleep issues.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how infant temperament features influence sleep development over the first year of life.
  • To identify specific temperament traits associated with infant sleep problems.

Main Methods:

  • Longitudinal study of 1436 mother-infant dyads.
  • Data collected at six and 12 months included sleep, temperament, and sociodemographic measures.

Main Results:

  • Higher Negative Affectivity correlated with increased infant sleep problems.
  • Negative Affectivity and Orienting/Regulation subscales predicted worse sleep and sleep problem deterioration.
  • Surgency showed few associations with sleep outcomes.

Conclusions:

  • Negative Affectivity is a key risk factor for persistent and worsening infant sleep problems.
  • Fine-grained temperament aspects are important predictors of infant sleep development.

Keywords:
InfantsReactivitySelf-regulationSleepTemperament

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