0250 How Parental Stress, Anxiety, and Style Facilitate Child Sleep Through Parent-Child Sleep Interactions

Abstract Introduction Promoting sleep quality in early childhood is important and may be affected by caregiver factors such as parenting style and psychopathology. While these factors may have a direct impact, they may also influence child sleep via bedtime interactions. Parenting stress and parental anxiety can negatively interfere with parent-child interactions. Different parenting styles may relate to more permissive or restrictive bedtime routines and ability to foster a supportive sleep environment. We hypothesized that parent-child sleep interactions would mediate the relation between caregiver factors, specifically parental stress, anxiety, and style, and children's average sleep duration. Methods Primary caregivers of preschool-aged children (N=91, Mage=3.75 years, SDage=0.532, Rangeage=3.01-5.23, 52% female) completed the Parenting Styles and Dimensions Short Form Questionnaire, Parenting Stress Index, PROMIS Anxiety Scale, Parent-Child Sleep Interactions Scale, and reported their child’s typical overnight sleep duration. Results To investigate how caregiver factors affect sleep duration, a mediation analysis was performed. The predictor variable for the analysis was stress, anxiety, or parenting style. The mediator variable was parent-child sleep interactions. The outcome variable was average sleep duration. Path estimates showed significant relations between sleep interactions and parenting stress (ꞵ=.113, p=.011), permissive style (ꞵ=.946, p<.001), and parent anxiety (ꞵ=.226, p<.001). The effect of sleep interactions on sleep duration was significant for parenting stress (ꞵ=-.027, p=.003), permissive style (ꞵ=-.026, p=.004), and anxiety (ꞵ=-.03, p<.001). Parenting stress (ꞵ=-.005, p=.192), permissive style (ꞵ=-.026, p=.301), and parent anxiety (ꞵ=.003, p=.549 did not significantly relate to sleep duration. Conclusion Caregiving factors did not have a direct effect on child sleep duration, but were associated with sleep interactions. Sleep interactions were related to sleep duration. These findings suggest that the primary mechanism through which caregiver factors influence child sleep is via sleep interactions. Among caregiving factors, a permissive caregiving style exerted the strongest effect on sleep interactions. Education regarding specific interventions to foster healthy bedtime interactions may be beneficial in supporting children's sleep quality. Support (if any) Funding by: NIH R01 HL164628