Naturalistic Observation of Parents, Infants, and Young Children in Sleep Contexts

• In Event: 2-206 - Designing a Naturalistic Observational Study of Children and Families 40 Years Later

Integrative Statement

Understanding caregiving determinants of sleep problems in infancy is an important concern to pediatricians, sleep researchers, and parents. Sleep problems in infancy tend to persist into the preschool years and beyond and are associated with externalizing and internalizing behaviors, sleepiness, attentional and memory problems and poor academic performance (Molfese et al., 2013).
In the past 15 years. research has begun to demonstrate that childhood sleep quality is sensitive to maturational, parenting, and family-level influences. The SIESTA research program is consistent with this focus and describes three longitudinal studies of bidirectional linkages between parenting and family processes and sleep in infancy and early childhood. In one of these studies, assessments took place across time when infants were 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 months of age. A signature feature of this study was its use of naturalistic observation of parenting at bedtime and throughout the night. Extensive piloting was conducted to minimize obtrusiveness and to determine the best camera and microphone placement to capture infant sleep location, bedtime and night time interactions with the infant, who was with the infant, who entered and exited the infant’s space, and infant states of arousal. Care was also given to select video equipment that provided quality video during a period of time when there was no ambient light. Once cameras were set up, parents were instructed to turn the recording system on about an hour before bedtime using a surge protector switch, and to turn it off after the infant awoke the following morning. Recordings ranged from about 9 – 13 hours in length and were done during a night when all family members were home.
The continuous video data provided by these procedures enabled different “blind” research teams to code parenting both in terms of quality (e.g., parents’ emotional availability to infants), specific parenting practices (e.g., sleep arrangements, quiet vs. arousing bedtime activities), and parenting interventions with infants throughout the night. A number of findings have now emerged that provide insight into “best practices” for parents that promote infant sleep regulation. In addition, additional and as yet unpublished data are emerging. For example, naturalistic observations of coparenting quality at bedtime (high partner support and low undermining/hostility), coded from video recordings of bedtime coparenting, predict infant sleep quality during the night (Figure 1). In addition, emotionally available parenting at bedtime mediates relations between adequate maternal sleep duration (consistently > 7 hours per night across the infant’s first year) and quality of infant-mother attachment at 12 months (Figure 2). Naturalistic observational data from the SIESTA program is also addressing preschool child home environments at bedtime and readiness for school.
It is hoped this presentation underscores the point that naturalistic observations that emerge from careful forethought and planning around issues of design, data collection, data parsing, and data analysis (Repetti et al., 2013), may be more useful than structured observations for addressing key questions about how environments affect child development and family life.

Author

• Douglas Teti, Pennsylvania State University
  Presenting Author