PA Human Development and Family Studies, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park.
School of Family Life, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.
Gerontologist. 2018 Mar 19;58(2):341-352. doi: 10.1093/geront/gnw149.
Sleep is a key factor in maintaining positive health and well-being throughout life. Although the negative outcomes of sleep problems are becoming better understood, less is known about how intergenerational relationships might affect sleep. Thus, this investigation examines the dyadic associations of support for, stress over, and worrying about adult children on sleep quality for husbands and wives.
The sample included 186 heterosexual married couples drawn from the Family Exchanges Study. To account for nonindependence in the dyadic data and explore questions of mutual influence, we used actor-partner interdependence models.
Husbands' and wives' reports of supporting their adult child and husbands' worry were associated with husbands' sleep quality. Conversely, wives' stress about supporting their adult child was associated with wives' sleep quality. Findings suggest that relationships with adult children have different associations for sleep quality among middle-aged husbands and wives.
Our findings have implications for health-related research with couples and families and for providers who work with individuals struggling with sleep problems. Assisting aging parents to be aware of and manage ways that stress, support, and concern for adult children relate to their sleep may benefit them in multifaceted ways.
睡眠是维持整个生命周期身心健康的关键因素。尽管人们越来越了解睡眠问题的负面影响，但对于代际关系如何影响睡眠知之甚少。因此，本研究考察了支持、关注和担忧成年子女对夫妻双方睡眠质量的双重影响。
该样本包括来自家庭交流研究的 186 对异性已婚夫妇。为了解决对偶数据的非独立性问题，并探索相互影响的问题，我们使用了演员-伙伴相互依存模型。
丈夫和妻子对成年子女的支持报告以及丈夫的担忧与丈夫的睡眠质量有关。相反，妻子对支持成年子女的压力与妻子的睡眠质量有关。研究结果表明，中年丈夫和妻子的睡眠质量与与成年子女的关系有关。
我们的研究结果对夫妻和家庭的健康相关研究以及与那些与睡眠问题作斗争的个体合作的提供者具有重要意义。帮助老年父母意识到并管理他们对成年子女的压力、支持和关注与睡眠的关系，可能会在多方面使他们受益。
