Parenting and toddler self-regulation in low-income families: What does sleep have to do with it?

Resident and Non-resident Father Involvement, Coparenting, and the Development of Children's Self-Regulation Among Families Facing Economic Hardship

Self-regulation, or the ability to effectively manage emotions and behavior, is a critical skill to develop in early childhood. Children living in a context of economic hardship are at an increased risk for developing self-regulation difficulties. However, few studies have comprehensively examined how multiple aspects of the caregiving environment, including fathers' parenting and coparenting quality, may contribute to child self-regulation. Thus, this study applied a family systems perspective to examine whether coparenting and resident and non-resident fathers' reports of parenting quantity and quality were associated with observations of children's self-regulation. Participants were drawn from the Embedded Developmental Study (n = 257) of the Three-City Study, a longitudinal study of children and families facing economic hardship. At Wave 1, when children were 2-4 years old, reports of parenting (i.e., quantity and quality) and coparenting (i.e., support) were obtained. At Wave 2, when children were 3-6 years old, children participated in a snack delay and gift wrap task, which assessed their self-regulation. Multi-group path analyses indicated that resident fathers' harsh parenting at Wave 1 predicted decreased levels of self-regulation at Wave 2. Non-resident fathers' reported hours of involvement at Wave 1 predicted greater levels of self-regulation at Wave 2. Additionally, supportive coparenting among families with a non-resident father predicted greater self-regulation. Supportive coparenting was not associated with child self-regulation in families with a resident father. The implications for research focused on facilitating positive father-child relationships in diverse family contexts are discussed.

Sleep and self-control: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Controlling impulses and overcoming temptations (i.e., self-control) are key aspects of living a productive life. There is a growing yet disperse literature indicating that sleep is an important predictor of self-control. The goal of this meta-analysis is to empirically integrate the findings from multiple literatures, and investigate whether sleep quality, and sleep duration predict self-control. To provide a thorough understanding of the proposed relationships, this meta-analysis also investigated potential differences between the level of analysis (between-individual vs. within-individual), research design (experiment vs. correlation; and cross-sectional vs. time-lagged), and types of measure (subjective vs. objective for sleep and self-control). A systematic review was conducted through ABI/Inform (including PsycInfo), ERIC, ProQuest Dissertation & Theses, PubMed, and Psychology Database using keywords related to self-control and sleep. Sixty-one independent studies met the inclusion criteria. The results, in general, suggest that sleep quality (between-individual 0.26, CI 0.21; 0.31; and within-individual 0.35, CI 0.24; 0.45), and sleep duration (between-individual 0.14, CI 0.07; 0.21; and within-individual 0.20, CI 0.09; 0.31) are all related to self-control. Given the impact of self-control on how individuals live productive lives, a future research agenda should include a deeper investigation in the causal process (potentially via prefrontal cortex activity) linking sleep and self-control, and an examination of the moderators (individual and contextual variables) that could impact the relationship between sleep and self-control.

Correlates of Sleep Duration in Early Childhood: A Systematic Review

OBJECTIVE

This systematic review aimed to summarize correlates of sleep duration in children under 5 years of age.

METHODS

Six electronic databases (PubMed, PsycINFO, MEDLINE, CINAHL, SPORTDiscus, and Scopus) were searched from inception to May 2019. Observational studies and intervention studies reporting cross-sectional results from baseline data were considered. Data were extracted using a predesigned form and potential correlates were categorized following a sociological framework.

RESULTS

One-hundred and sixteen studies, representing 329,166 children, met the inclusion criteria, with a high risk of bias in 62 included studies. A total of 83 correlates of sleep duration were identified. Among the associations studied four or more times, correlates of nap duration were child's age and nighttime sleep onset/bedtime; correlates of nighttime sleep duration were household income, parent marital status, parental adiposity level, nighttime sleep duration at younger age, nighttime sleep onset/bedtime, nighttime sleep wakeup time, and frequency of current bedtime routine; correlate of total sleep duration was screen time.

CONCLUSIONS

Young children from low-income households, single families, or having overweight parents may be at risk for short sleep duration. Promoting healthy sleep duration from an early age appears essential. Effective practices may include encouraging an earlier bedtime, limiting screen time, and establishing a regular bedtime routine. The absence of consistent evidence in the psychological, cognitive, and emotional domain as well as the physical environmental domain warrants further research.

Longitudinal links between maternal factors and infant cognition: Moderation by infant sleep

The current study examined the moderating role of infant sleep in the link between maternal factors (i.e., maternal education, depressive symptoms, sleep disturbance) and infant cognition. Data come from 95 African American parent-child dyads. At 3 months of age, infant sleep was objectively measured using videosomnography and actigraphy, from which measures of sleep regulation and consolidation were calculated. Mothers also self-reported their level of education, depressive symptoms, and sleep quality. At 6 months of age, infants completed cognitive assessments, including a measure of general cognitive ability and observed attention behavior. Findings revealed that infant sleep quality interacted with maternal education and sleep disturbances to predict cognition. Specifically, the link between maternal education and infants' attention behavior was significant and positive for infants with better regulated sleep, but not for infants with poorly regulated sleep. Similarly, the link between maternal sleep disturbance and infant cognition depended on infant sleep quality. For infants with poorer sleep consolidation, increased maternal sleep disturbance predicted poorer infant general cognitive ability. For infants with better sleep consolidation, maternal sleep disturbance was positively related to both general cognitive ability and attention behavior. These findings suggest that infant sleep quality moderates the impact of environmental factors on cognitive functioning.