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Published on: October 2, 2019
Quality of father-child relationships as a predictor of sleep developments during preschool years
Émilie Tétreault1, Annie Bernier1, Célia Matte-Gagné2
1Department of Psychology, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Insights
Paternal mind-mindedness in toddlerhood predicts earlier, more mature sleep patterns in preschoolers. Children with more father-child interaction comments showed better nighttime sleep proportion and shorter daytime sleep duration.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Sleep Science
- Family Studies
Background:
- Preschool sleep undergoes significant developmental changes.
- Factors predicting these sleep developments are understudied.
- Father-child relationships may influence early sleep patterns.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if father-child relationship aspects in toddlerhood predict preschool sleep development.
- To examine paternal mind-mindedness, interaction quality, and involvement.
- To assess prediction of actigraphy-derived sleep variables.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study with 67 children, sleep assessed yearly from ages 2 to 4.
- Paternal mind-mindedness and interaction quality measured at 18 months.
- Father involvement reported at age 2.
- Multilevel growth modeling used for analysis.
Main Results:
- Higher paternal mind-mindedness correlated with a greater proportion of nighttime sleep and shorter daytime/total sleep duration at age 2.
- This association led to a slower rate of change in these sleep variables between ages 2 and 4.
- Findings suggest earlier maturation of sleep patterns in children with higher paternal mind-mindedness.
Conclusions:
- Paternal mind-mindedness in toddlerhood is linked to advanced sleep maturation in preschool years.
- Early father-child interactions may facilitate the development of consolidated nighttime sleep.
- This research highlights the role of paternal engagement in children's sleep development.
Abstract:
Substantial developmental changes in sleep occur during the preschool period, but few studies have investigated the factors that forecast these developments. The aim of this study was to examine whether three aspects of father-child relationships in toddlerhood predicted individual differences in developmental patterns of change in five actigraphy-derived sleep variables during the preschool period (N = 67; sleep assessed yearly between 2 and 4 years). In a predominantly White and middle-to-higher income sample, paternal mind-mindedness and quality of father-child interactions were assessed during father-child free play at 18 months and fathers self-reported on their involvement in childrearing at age 2. Multilevel growth modeling revealed that children whose father made more mind-related comments during father-child interactions had a higher proportion of sleep taking place during nighttime as well as shorter daytime and total sleep duration at 2 years. This was, however, followed by a relative leveling off (i.e., less rapid change) of these sleep features between 2 and 4 years. Given previous studies documenting that nighttime sleep proportion increases while daytime and total sleep duration decrease during preschool years, the findings suggest that children who are exposed to more paternal mind-mindedness may reach more mature sleep patterns earlier in development.
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