Cosleeping and sleep problems in children: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Maternal Perceptions of Evidence-Based Early Childhood Sleep Health Promotion Recommendations: An Explanatory Sequential Study

OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this explanatory sequential design study was to better understand caregivers' perceptions about and interest in evidence-based early childhood sleep health promotion recommendations.

METHOD

A purposeful sample of mothers of 20 1-5-year-old children (10 children exhibiting optimal sleep and 10 children exhibiting insufficient/fragmented sleep) attending a preschool serving a low socio-economic (SES) status metropolitan community were invited to participate in qualitative interviews. Data were coded according to a grounded theory approach and themes were identified within the optimal and suboptimal sleeper groups.

RESULTS

Mothers reported different approaches to managing electronics by optimal/suboptimal sleeper group, with mothers of optimal sleepers limiting access to electronics more than mothers in the suboptimal sleep group. Other themes of sleep health practices did not differ meaningfully between groups.

CONCLUSIONS

Maternal perspectives about early childhood sleep health were similar across optimal and suboptimal sleepers on most elements of child sleep health. Managing child sleep was contextually influenced and these results highlight the complexities of how families living in lower SES environments perceive common sleep recommendations. Thus, sleep health education efforts should be tailored to the needs and values of specific families and communities.

Sleep-related parenting self-efficacy and parent-reported sleep in young children: A dyadic analysis of parental actor and partner effects

OBJECTIVES

The role of positive cognitions, particularly domain-specific sleep-related parenting self-efficacy (SPSE), for young children's sleep has received limited attention so far. The present study investigates possible interdependencies between maternal/paternal SPSE and parent-reported sleep problems in infants and toddlers.

DESIGN AND SETTING

Mother-father dyads participated in this cross-sectional German study and filled out questionnaires.

PARTICIPANTS

One hundred thirty-one parental dyads with children aged between 2 and 47 months (M = 19.4; standard deviation = 10.6) participated in the study.

MEASUREMENTS

Parents answered a questionnaire about their own SPSE and the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire-Infant Version about their child's sleep. Paired sample t tests and correlations were used to investigate parental differences and agreement. An actor-partner interdependence model to examine the relationship between maternal/paternal SPSE and parent-reported child sleep problems was estimated, controlling for child age and co-sleeping.

RESULTS

The results reveal no differences between parents regarding their own SPSE and between mother- and father-reported child sleep problems. Mothers and fathers showed significant agreement regarding their children's sleep problems. For both parents, significant actor effects between SPSE and child sleep emerged, with higher SPSE being related to fewer child sleep problems. For fathers, also partner effects were significant with higher paternal SPSE being related to fewer child sleep problems in the maternal report.

CONCLUSION

This study underlines the importance of considering mothers' and fathers' nonindependence in dyadic data analysis. Parenting self-efficacy might play a specific role in the context of young children's sleep and could be used for early intervention and prevention programs.