0813 Cognitive Failures Predict Authoritarian Parenting in Grandparents: The Mediating Role of Sleep Quality

Abstract Introduction Cognitive failures (i.e, lapses in attention, memory, or action) undermine self-regulation and emotional control, both essential for positive caregiving. Poor sleep similarly impairs these capacities, affecting stability and impulse control. Because cognitive functioning and sleep decline with age and caregiving stress, grandparents raising grandchildren may be especially vulnerable to self-regulatory challenges that heighten negative parenting. This study tested whether sleep quality mediated the link between cognitive failures and parenting practices. Methods Grandparents (N=185, Mage=54.31, 79.8%-female) who reported living with and being responsible for the care of their grandchildren (Mage=8.05, 49.4%-female) completed the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire and the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index. They also completed the Parenting Styles & Dimensions Questionnaire - Short Version, which has 3 main scales: authoritative (connection, autonomy granting, regulation, authoritarian (physical coercion, verbal hostility, nonreasoning), and permissive parenting and subscales within the first two scales. SPSS PROCESS conducted mediation analyses, controlling for grandparent age and sex. Results Grandparents (N=185, Mage=54.31, 79.8%-female) who reported living with and being responsible for the care of their grandchildren (Mage=8.05, 49.4%-female) completed the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire and the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index. They also completed the Parenting Styles & Dimensions Questionnaire - Short Version, which has 3 main scales: authoritative (connection, autonomy granting, regulation, authoritarian (physical coercion, verbal hostility, nonreasoning), and permissive parenting and subscales within the first two scales. SPSS PROCESS conducted mediation analyses, controlling for grandparent age and sex. Conclusion Results suggested that poor sleep quality may be a potential mechanism that helps explain the relationship between increased cognitive failures and negative parenting behaviors in grandparents raising grandchildren. Future research should examine these pathways longitudinally to clarify causal relationships and explore whether interventions targeting sleep improvement can reduce negative parenting practices in caregiving grandparents. Support (if any) Sleep Research Society Foundation (PI: Stearns)