0900 Faulty Focus, Sleep Suffers: Grandparent Caregiving Responsibility and Grandchild Sleep

Abstract Introduction Grandparents raising grandchildren face heightened caregiving demands that may strain cognitive functioning and family routines. Cognitive failures, such as lapses in attention, memory, or action, can undermine caregiving quality and are associated with greater difficulty maintaining consistent bedtime routines. This may lead to disrupted grandchild sleep and poor sleep habits, ultimately contributing to longer sleep onset latency (SOL). Despite the growing number of grandparent caregivers in the United States, little research has examined how caregiver cognitive functioning interacts with caregiving responsibility to affect grandchildren’s sleep. This study sought to fill that gap. 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. They also reported how many hours they are responsible for their grandchild (ranging from 0 hours to more than 40 hours a week) and the average number of minutes it takes their grandchild to fall asleep in the past week (SOL). SPSS PROCESS conducted moderation analyses, controlling for grandchild and grandparent age and sex. Results Cognitive failures interacted with caregiving responsibility (F(1, 156) = 2.21, p = .01) in its association with SOL (R2 = .15, p = .001). Specifically, increased cognitive failures was associated with increased grandchild SOL among grandparents who reported being more responsible for their grandchildren (t(1, 156) = 1.99, p = .04). There was also a main effect of grandparent cognitive failures predicting grandchild SOL (F(1, 156) = 1.75, p = .04). Conclusion These findings suggest that grandchildren may be more affected by caregiver cognitive strain when grandparents play a more central role in daily care. Such effects may arise because caregiver cognitive failures are associated with inconsistent bedtime routines, leading to disrupted child sleep and the development of maladaptive sleep habits. Future research should examine parenting behaviors as potential mediators and employ longitudinal designs to clarify causal pathways over time. In addition, future research should examine whether family-based interventions that reduce caregiver cognitive failures may promote greater consistency in bedtime routines, thereby improving child SOL and reducing the risk of long-term sleep disturbances. Support (if any) Sleep Research Society Foundation (PI: Stearns)