Poster #175 - Parenting Style, Infant Behavior, and Actigraphy-Recorded Sleep Quality in Mexican Origin Infants

• In Event: 1-115 - Poster Session 03
  In Poster Session: PS 03 Section - Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Integrative Statement

Sleep consolidation, or sleeping through the night, is a critical developmental milestone for infants (Goodlin-Jones, Burnham, Gaylor, & Anders, 2001). Good quality sleep in infancy is vital for the development of the brain, learning, and memory (Tarullo, Balsam, & Fifer, 2011; Gomez, Newman-Smith, Breslin, & Bootzin, 2011; Sadeh, 2007). Disturbances in sleep, such as low quantity sleep and frequent night wakings, are tied to increased irritability and negative mood (Ednick et al., 2009). Mother-child interactions are a primary influence on child sleep (Sadeh, Tikotzky, & Scher, 2010). Sensitive and nurturing maternal behavior fosters infants’ self-regulatory capabilities (Bornstein, 1985) and emotional security (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978), Thus, as expected, greater maternal sensitivity is linked to better infant sleep (Priddis, 2009; Teti, Kim, Mayer, & Countermine, 2010).
The current study aims to extend these previous findings to a Mexican origin sample. Though Latinx children make up almost a quarter of all births in the U.S. (Martin, 2015), and the majority (63%) of U.S. Latinxs is Mexican origin (U.S. Census Bureau, 2016), the growing Mexican origin population is largely understudied in developmental literature. There are no studies with objective measures of sleep in Mexican origin infants. This study aims to fill this gap by examining the associations among infant sleep quality, parenting quality, and infant behavior in a sample of Mexican origin families with infants (n=30; Mage=6.42 months).
Infant sleep quality was objectively measured using actigraphy and parent-reported sleep diaries for an average of 5.5 nights (SD=2.49). Actigraphy codes revealed measures of quiet sleep, active sleep, and wake during the nightly sleep period. Mothers reported on parenting styles and infant behavior using the Infant Parenting Styles Questionnaire and the Infant Behavior Questionnaire.
On average, infants’ sleep periods were 10.11 hours (SD=.96) per night from onset to offset, with 3.94 hours in active sleep (SD=1.09), 5.31 hours in quiet sleep (SD=1.38), and 51.72 minutes awake (SD=27.84). On average, infants woke up 5.43 times per night (SD=2.31) for 11.02 minutes (SD=7.70) per waking. Infants spent 39% of the night in active sleep (SD=9.69), 52.51% in quiet sleep (SD=11.70), and 8.5% awake (SD=4.46).
Greater maternal nurturance was associated with shorter night wakings (B=-0.45, p<0.05). Infants who spent less time in quiet sleep per night (B=-0.382, p<0.05) or had lower sleep to wake ratios (B=-0.378, p=.05) expressed more negative affect.
Past research shows the percentage of active sleep to decrease from 50% at birth to 25%-40% by 6 months (Heraghty, Hilliard, Henderson, & Fleming, 2008; Bathory & Tomopoulos, 2017). The 6-month-old infants in the current study appear to be within range of percentages of active sleep and quiet sleep per night. However, our results show a reduction in quiet sleep impacts emotion regulation. Less quiet sleep, and thus less restorative sleep quality (Bathory & Tomopoulous, 2017), is associated with more negative and fearful behavior in infancy. Nurturing parenting can have a protective effect on sleep quality, minimizing the length of awakenings at night.

Authors

• Andrea C Buhler, University of California, Davis
  Presenting Author

• Charlotte C Ellberg, University of California, Davis
  Non-Presenting Author

• Yesi Avelar, University of California, Davis
  Non-Presenting Author

• Krystal Rodas, University of California, Davis
  Non-Presenting Author

• Leah C. Hibel, University of California, Davis
  Non-Presenting Author