3-012 - The Role of Fathers in Child Sleep

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

A growing body of literature demonstrates that sleep consolidation and regulation in early childhood is shaped by parental input. The bulk of this literature, however, has focused on maternal contributions, with very little attention to fathers. Theory addressing the manner in which fathers contribute to child development takes into account direct effects, as in direct involvement and interaction with children, and indirect effects, in terms of fathers’ impact on the marital and coparenting relationship (Lamb & Lewis, 2013). This symposium offers new work that examines paternal contributions to child sleep in infancy and early childhood, focusing on fathers as parents and as partners. The first presents new findings from two longitudinal studies, reporting significant associations between higher paternal involvement with infants and lower paternal sleep quality, and that fathers’ involvement with infants at 6 months predicted decreases in infant night waking from 6 to 12 months. The second presentation reports significant linkages between paternal mind-mindedness (commenting on the child’s presumed mental states) and more mature child sleep at 2 years of age (more consolidated sleep). The third presentation examined fathers as coparents, both as perceived by mothers and as perceived by fathers themselves, finding significant associations between coparenting quality and better quality and more stable child sleep during the transition to kindergarten. This symposium demonstrates that fathers impact child sleep as parents and as partners and speaks to the importance of conceptualizing child sleep as a product of and contributor to the larger family system.

Sub Unit

• Family Context & Processes

Chair

• Douglas Teti, Pennsylvania State University

Individual Presentations

• Sleep in the Family Context and Paternal Involvement in Infant Caregiving: Findings from Two Longitudinal Studies - Presenting Author: Liat Tikotzky, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev; Non-Presenting Author: Ella Volkovich, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev; Non-Presenting Author: Avel Horwitz, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev; Non-Presenting Author: Dar-Ran Peled, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev; Non-Presenting Author: Omer Finkelstein, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

• A Longitudinal Analysis of Father-Child Relationships and Sleep Growth Curves at Preschool Age - Presenting Author: Annie Bernier, University of Montreal; Non-Presenting Author: Émilie Tétreault, University of Montreal; Non-Presenting Author: Catherine Cimon-Paquet, University of Montreal; Non-Presenting Author: Célia Matte-Gagné, Laval University

• Fathers as Coparents: Positive and Negative Coparenting and Children’s Sleep Quality During the Transition to Kindergarten - Presenting Author: Ulziimaa Chimed-Ochir, The Pennsylvania State University; Non-Presenting Author: Corey Jean Whitesell, Penn State University; Non-Presenting Author: Brian Crosby, Pennsylvania State University; Non-Presenting Author: Orfeu M. Buxton, Department of Biobehavioral Health, Pennsylvania State University; Non-Presenting Author: Karen Bierman, Pennsylvania State University; Non-Presenting Author: Jacqueline Mogle, The Pennsylvania State University; Non-Presenting Author: Douglas Teti, Pennsylvania State University