Dyadic Concordance in Parent-Youth Sleep: The Moderating Role of Adverse Parenting

• In Event: Negative parenting

Abstract

Optimal sleep is critical for adolescent health and development, and the family context can exert a major role on sleep health during this time (El-Sheikh & Kelly, 2017). Previous work suggests significant interrelations among parent and youth sleep behaviors (i.e., concordance; Fuligni et al., 2015; Kouros & El-Sheikh, 2017). However, less is known regarding how dyadic concordance in parent-youth sleep may vary as a function of harsh or abusive parenting, a key environmental health determinant associated with sleep disturbances in adolescence (Schønning et al., 2022). Thus, the current study examined daily (i.e., within-family) and average (i.e., between-family) concordance between parent and youth objective sleep and explored adverse parenting as a potential moderator.

Participants were 124 adolescents (Mage = 12.90, SD = 0.80; 52% female; 76.4% European American) and their parents (93% mothers) residing in the rural southeastern United States. Sleep duration (i.e., total time spent asleep), sleep efficiency (i.e., proportion of time spent asleep to time in bed), and sleep midpoint time (i.e., median between sleep onset and wake time) were assessed via actigraphs worn by parent-youth dyads across one week (Mdays = 6.85, SD = 2.86). Parents self-reported adverse parenting (e.g., emotional abuse, corporal punishment, neglect) using the Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scale (CTSPC; Straus et al., 1998; α=.70). Covariates were weekend vs. weekday, sex, race/ethnicity, vacation period, and youth pubertal status. To examine average daily variation in adolescent and parent sleep per week, two-level multilevel models were fit in Mplus 8.0 using maximum likelihood estimation with robust standard errors to account for nested data. Intraclass correlations were 0.22 (youth duration), 0.60 (youth efficiency), 0.54 (youth midpoint), 0.43 (parent duration), 0.54 (parent efficiency), and 0.62 (parent midpoint).

Results from multilevel models indicated daily (within-family) concordance between parent and adolescent sleep duration and sleep midpoint time (Table 1). Specifically, a 1-hour increase in parents’ sleep duration, relative to their average duration, predicted an extension of youths’ sleep by approximately 13 minutes on that same night. Further, for every 1-hour delay in parents’ sleep midpoint time, youths’ sleep midpoint was delayed by approximately 32 minutes that same night. Average (between-family) concordance was observed for sleep midpoint only, such that, on average, children of parents with later sleep midpoint times had later sleep timings themselves. Adverse parenting moderated between-family relations in sleep duration and efficiency. On average, in contexts of high adverse parenting, higher parent sleep duration and efficiency were associated with lower youth sleep duration and efficiency (i.e., discordance; see Figure 1).

Study findings highlight daily and average concordance between parent and adolescent sleep duration and sleep timing. Adverse parenting disrupted concordance in parent-youth sleep duration and efficiency (i.e., improvements in parent sleep were linked with problems for youth sleep in high-risk contexts). These results have implications for family-focused preventive intervention programs that target both parent and adolescent sleep, and that aim to reduce harmful parenting and promote positive environments in which adolescent sleep is nested.

Authors

• Jeri Sasser, Arizona State University
  Presenting Author

• Assaf Oshri, University of Georgia