The Parental Expectations and Cognitions Surrounding Infant Sleep Survey (PECSIS)

• In Event: Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Topic - Family Context & Processes

Abstract

Parental cognitions influence in-the-moment and long-term decisions about children’s sleep routines and habits (Tikotzky & Sadeh, 2009). For example, parental cognitions determine infants’ success at transitioning to fewer night wakings and sleeping less during the day and more at night. A novel measure, the Parental Expectations and Cognitions Surrounding Infant Sleep (PECSIS), was designed to remedy the shortcomings of existing methods that ask parents to rate hypothetical situations rather than their own circumstances. It was hypothesized that parental beliefs and attitudes would have a cascading influence on infants' sleep by shaping maternal and paternal behavior.
Survey questions, appropriate for both mothers and fathers, spanned 4 domains: infant independence, importance of sleep, scheduled sleep, and sleep as dynamics. An exploratory factor analysis and skree plot confirmed 4 factors as the correct solution, accounting for 37% of the variance. However, while the questions were situated in 4 domains, they did not map so reliably onto the underlying constructs. Final constructs measured by the scale are described in Table 1 and include (1) infant independence and schedules, (2) sleep as functional and beneficial, (3) sleep as reflecting context, and (4) parental anxiety about sleep.
Factor scores were calculated for each participant and, for a subset, also for their partner. Correlations for each item within the factor and factor scores were high, but there was evidence of multicollinearity. To assess validity, participants’ factor scores were compared for individual differences in infant development and to other parenting behaviors such as type of baby monitor and attending infant music, reading, or swim classes. Finally, we examined the extent to which factor scores predicted infant sleep behavior.
Paired samples t-tests revealed that partners’ factor scores significantly differed only on the Independent & Scheduled Factor (t(23) = -2.95, p < .05). Table 1 shows results from a series of one-way ANOVAS on factor scores by infant characteristics (gender or motor milestone attainment) as well as other parenting behavior. Stepwise linear regressions assessed the predictive value of each factor score on infant sleep duration and number of wake episodes. Parent scores on the Independent & Scheduled (β = -.672) and Reflecting Context Factors (β = .334) and infant age (β = -.037) predicted the number of wake episodes (R2=.418, F(3, 126) = 30.21, p < .001). The Independent & Scheduled Factor (β=19.618) and infant age (β=2.561) predicted infant sleep duration (R2=.102, F(2, 127) = 7.212, p < .01).
Thus, some parental beliefs shaped infant sleep behavior more than others. Specifically, the Independent & Scheduled and Reflecting Context Factors significantly predicted even a brief snapshot of infant sleep. Interestingly, the factors of Functional & Beneficial and Parental Sleep Anxiety did not predict sleep behavior, but were related to other parenting choices and infants’ motor skill development. Results are in line with a transactional model of infant sleep (Sadeh & Anders, 1993). Parental beliefs about infant sleep are dynamic, changing as their infant grows, and influential; they shape night-to-night responses and are related to the childrearing context more broadly.

Authors

• Melissa N. Horger, Graduate Center, City University of New York
  Presenting Author

• Sarah E. Berger, City University of New York College of Staten Island
  Non-Presenting Author