0251 Is Dysregulated Sleep In Early Childhood Associated With Daytime Dyadic Interactions?

• Published in: Sleep (New York, N.Y.) N.Y.), 2019-04, Vol.42 (Supplement_1), p.A103-A103
• Main Authors: Kellerman, Ashleigh M, Abel, Emily A, Chong, Pearlynne L H, Schwichtenberg, A J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Caregivers; Childhood; Children & youth; Sleep
• ISSN: 0161-8105; 1550-9109
• DOI: 10.1093/sleep/zsz067.250

Introduction In early childhood, successful sleep is often conceptualized as a dyadic process which reflects child, caregiver, and contextual elements. Promoting optimal sleep often includes educating parents and structuring parent-child interactions. However, previous studies rarely assess dyadic interactions prior to treatment and do not report consistent robust associations between parent-child interactions and sleep dysregulation. The present study aims to expand our developmental understanding of sleep dysregulation within a family context by examining daytime dyadic interactions in children with regulated and dysregulated sleep. Methods As part of a longitudinal study on pediatric sleep and development, 50 children wore actigraphs for 3-7 nights and participated in a video-recorded mother-child play interaction, at their 18 or 24-month laboratory visit. Each child’s sleep was classified as regulated (REG;n=30) or dysregulated (DYS;n=20) based on the following criteria: (1)slept less than AASM recommendations for their age, (2)woke for more than an hour for at least two nights, and/or (3)had morning rise or bedtimes that varied by more than two hours. Using existing coding schemes, play interactions were coded for instances of dyadic synchrony and responsiveness, as well as rated for joint engagement. Children also completed a standardized assessment to index any developmental concerns. Results A series of ANCOVAS were conducted, with terms for child sex, maternal education, and developmental concerns, and did not reveal significant group differences across the measured dyadic constructs. However, descriptively the DYS group engaged in less dyadic synchrony (M=25.35,SD=10.5; M=29.13,SD=12.5), infant responsiveness (M=14.10,SD=6.0; M=15.93,SD=6.5), maternal responsiveness (M=11.25,SD=4.7; M=13.20,SD=6.5), and joint engagement (M=4.50,SD=1.4; M=4.67,SD=1.3), respectively. Conclusion Daytime dyadic interactions (or patterns of caregiver social interactions) may influence child sleep regulation but this study did not find robust associations. These findings may reflect our sample composition (e.g., families with moderate/high sociodemographic resources), a relatively small sample, or may suggest that the impact of daytime dyadic interactions is modest when considering the large number of factors that influence sleep dysregulation. Future studies should isolate key dyadic factors by focusing on nighttime parent-child interactions and the intersections betw