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Poster #211 - Predicting infant sleep problems: The roles of infant temperamental negative affect and maternal anxiety

Sat, March 23, 8:00 to 9:15am, Baltimore Convention Center, Floor: Level 1, Exhibit Hall B

Integrative Statement

Previous research has identified several biopsychosocial factors that influence individual differences in infant sleep patterns. Infant temperamental negative affect (NA) is associated with infant sleep problems such as night waking disturbances (Carey, 1974), shorter sleep duration (Weisbluth, 1981; Weisbluth & Liu, 1983), and problems initiating and maintaining sleep at night (Kelmanson, 2004). Additionally, antenatal (O’Connor et al., 2007) and postnatal (Petzoldt et al., 2015) maternal anxiety have both been associated with infant sleep problems. Previous research also shows that anxious mothers are likely to report more behavioral problems (Richters & Pellegrini, 1989; Brody & Forehand, 1986; Briggs-Gowan, et al., 1996) and depression symptoms in their children (Moretti, et al., 1985). Insofar as anxious parents report more developmental concerns, they may plausibly also report more sleep problems in their infants. Our study examines how NA and maternal anxiety independently predict infant sleep problems. By considering both infant and maternal factors, we can begin to hone in on the infant’s temperamental dimensions—such as rhythmicity, state regulation, arousal, irritability, and soothability—vis-à-vis parents’ perceptions of their infants in questionnaire responses and potential parent-infant interactions at night. To that end, we can start to tease apart the parent-driven and infant-driven influences on infant sleep problems.

To-date, 189 infants have been enrolled as part of a larger ongoing longitudinal project assessing the relations between early temperament and socioemotional outcomes. Data for the current analyses were drawn from participants who have completed all measures of interest to-date (N = 19). When infants are 8-months, parents complete the Infant Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ-R; Garstein & Rothbart, 2003) to assess infant temperamental negative affect. Additionally, parents complete the Trait Anxiety scale on the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI; Spielberger, 1983) to assess their own trait anxiety. When infants are 12-months, parents complete the Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment (ITSEA; Carter, Little, Briggs-Gowan, & Kogan, 2000), to assess their infant’s sleep problems. We hypothesize that both maternal trait anxiety and negative affectivity will lead to poorer sleep quality in infants.

Maternal anxiety and infant NA were entered into a linear regression model as independent predictors. Infant sleep problems was entered as the dependent variable. Results indicated that after controlling for maternal anxiety, NA at 8-months significantly predicted infant sleep problems at 12-months (b = 0.49, t = 2.81, p = .012), suggesting that infants displaying greater NA at 8-months exhibit more sleep problems at 12-months. Figure 1 visualizes this relation. The current result provides important insight about the infant-driven component of infant sleep problems. Since temperament is relatively stable across development, temperament is likely to influence the development of persistent sleeping problems. We can see these relations here as negative temperament predicts sleep problems across 4 months, even during a period of rapid changes in sleep patterns.

Due to the currently small N, we chose to look only at main effects. With a larger sample size, we will also consider how maternal anxiety and infant temperamental negative affect may interact to predict infant sleep problems.

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