Predictive Factors of Toddlers’ Sleep and Parental Stress

Abstract

Background: Although most infants consolidate their sleep habits during the first year of life, for many children, sleep is described as disrupted during toddlerhood. Along with individual child variables such as temperamental characteristics, parenting behaviors play a key role in determining children’s sleep–wake patterns. The aims of the current study were to evaluate the relationship among toddlers’ sleep quality, emotion regulation, bedtime routines, parental bedtime involvement, parental perceived social support and stress, and to integrate a novel combination of the aforementioned dimensions into predictive models of toddlers’ sleep quality and parental stress. Methods: One hundred and sixty parents with 2–3-year-old children filled out the following self-report questionnaires: the Parent–Child Sleep Interaction Scale; the Emotion Regulation Checklist; the Social Provisions Scale; and an ad-hoc questionnaire to assess parental involvement in everyday and bedtime care for children. Three multiple regression analyses were conducted by regressing maternal and paternal parenting stress and infant’s quality sleep onto the independent variables described above. Results: Toddlers’ emotion regulation and parental psychosocial functioning were related to parental stress. Toddlers’ night awakenings and the time required by toddlers to fall asleep were related to parental distress. Conclusions: The findings evidenced the bidirectional associations among the studied variables, highlighting the protective role of social support in reducing parenting stress and of paternal bedtime involvement in improving toddlers’ sleep quality.

Parental Involvement in Children’s Sleep Care and Nocturnal Awakenings in Infants and Toddlers

“…Children’s age moderated the association between paternal involvement in children’s sleep and the number of night awakenings; however, a significant effect emerged only for infants aged 8–12 months. These findings are in contrast with our previous studies [ 16 ] in which we found that paternal involvement in bedtime caring predicted a decrease in the number of night awakenings in children aged 1–3 years old. However, in their longitudinal study with fathers of 3-years-old children, Bernier, and Carrier [ 14 ] found that among the six dimensions of paternal involvement pertaining to the relationship with the child investigated, the three that were related to child sleep at 3 years of age were the more closely related to emotional aspects of parent–child relationships: basic child care, emotional support, and evocation.…”

“…With regard to the main results of our study, the findings confirmed our first hypothesis (H1). In agreement with previous studies [ 7 , 13 , 16 ], we found that when fathers are involved in their children’s sleep care, the number of night awakenings reported by both mothers and fathers decreased, even in infants aged 8–12 months. Several studies had suggested that sleep–wake regulation at night may also be related to paternal characteristics [ 15 ]; however, none of them had investigated these associations at this age.…”

“…Research and clinical experience suggest that, during the first three years of life, fathers are less involved than mothers regarding putting their children to sleep and less likely to approach their infants during the night [ 11 , 12 , 13 ]. However, when fathers are reported to be more involved in their children’s care, infants and toddlers display more consolidated sleep patterns [ 7 , 14 , 15 , 16 ]. With regard to infants, Tikotzky et al [ 7 , 13 ] found that paternal involvement in infants’ general and sleep care at 1, 3, and 6 months of life was related to a lower number of night awakenings.…”

“…Moreover, Ragni et al [ 17 ] found that paternal bedtime involvement at 8–12 months was related to lower bedtime difficulties perceived by both parents. Concerning toddlers, the 1–3-year-olds of fathers that were less involved in general [ 15 ] and with bedtime child caregiving specifically [ 16 ] had more sleep problems, and sleep duration at three years of life was predicted by paternal emotional support and evocation of the child [ 14 ].…”

The Effects of the COVID19-Related Lockdown Are Modulated by Age: An Italian Study in Toddlers and Pre-Schoolers

“…This result is at variance with data from two other studies assessing relationships between parents' and children's sleep quality during the pandemic: Cellini et al [15] did not find any significant association (although note that their study was conducted on children of a different age range, i.e., 6-10 years), whereas Di Giorgio et al [14] showed, in a similar sample (aged 2-5 years), a positive relationship between mothers' and children's sleep changes, which was mediated by the mothers' working condition. Also, this finding appears counterintuitive, especially in light of previous studies reporting a positive association between sleep quality in mothers and their children [45][46][47], as well as a negative impact of parents' distress on their own sleep and on that of their children [48][49][50]. However, as suggested by Liu et al [13], it is plausible that the increase of stress, fear and negative mood, along with the more flexible parental work schedules, could have negatively impacted parents' sleep and also triggered in them more responsive and protective behaviors, which in turn positively affected their children's sleep quality.…”