3-031 - Family Functioning and Children's Sleep

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Insufficient and poor quality sleep are common in children. Increasingly, researchers acknowledge the importance of children’s sleep for the development of adaptive functioning across multiple domains. Children’s sleep occurs within a family context, and there is growing emphasis on how family function affects children’s sleep. Building on this literature in important ways, the purpose of this symposium is to present findings from novel studies that examined children’s sleep in the family context. Strong features of the presentations include their (a) objective state of the science assessment of sleep using well-validated actigraphs and scoring algorithms – the majority of pertinent studies utilize subjective assessments; (b) examination of various key sleep parameters, including duration and quality; (c) inclusion of samples diverse in relation to nationality, ethnicity, and/or socioeconomic status (SES); (d) utilizing repeated measures and longitudinal designs, which are scarce in this literature; and (d) consideration of various central aspects of family processes. With national and international speakers, the three presentations will address: (1) paternal involvement in child care and toddlers’ sleep; (2) parental alcoholism and children’s sleep; and (3) within family relations among mothers’, fathers’, and children’s sleep. Ethnicity and/or SES are examined as moderators of relations. The discussant will place the findings in a broader conceptual and methodological context. These studies represent important advances in the understanding of children’s sleep within a developmental science framework, are consistent with SRCD’s 2017 emphasis on investigations based on international and ethnically and economically diverse samples, and have critical implications for optimal child development.

Sub Unit

• Health, Growth, Injury

Chair

• Mona El-Sheikh, Auburn University

Discussant

• Douglas Teti, Pennsylvania State University

Individual Presentations

• Paternal Involvement and Child Sleep: A Look Beyond Infancy - Presenting Author: Annie Bernier, University of Montreal; Émilie Tétreault, University of Montreal; Marie-Ève Bélanger, University of Montreal; Julie Carrier, University of Montreal

• Reciprocal Relations between Parental Problem Drinking and Children’s Sleep - Presenting Author: Ryan J Kelly, University of New Mexico; Mona El-Sheikh, Auburn University

• Sleep Duration and Sleep Quality among Family Members - Presenting Author: Chrystyna D Kouros, Southern Methodist University; Mona El-Sheikh, Auburn University