Vertsberger Dana, Tikotzky Liat, Baruchi Oriya, Knafo-Noam Ariel
Department of Psychology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.
Department of Psychology, Ben Gurion Universiy, Beer-Sheva, Israel .
J Dev Behav Pediatr. 2021 May 1;42(4):307-313. doi: 10.1097/DBP.0000000000000899.
Infants' sleeping patterns can influence parents' sleep and their well-being. Infants' sleeping problems can evoke negative emotions from their parents because of the influence the problems have on parents' lives. However, little is known regarding the associations between infants' night sleep patterns and parents' overall negativity toward their children. The objective of this study was to study this association.
In a longitudinal design, we followed infants and their parents from 9 to 18 months. Overall, 392 families participated in the study. Parents' negativity and children's sleeping patterns were assessed with questionnaires.
Parents' negativity and children's sleeping problems showed moderate continuity through the study's 9-month period. Children's sleeping problems at 9 months predicted an increase in mothers' (but not fathers') negativity at 18 months. Parents' negativity was not associated with infants' sleep problems.
The results of this study suggest that already in infancy, children's tendencies, in this case sleep, can evoke negative emotions in their mothers and highlight infants' roles in the intricate parent-child relationship.
婴儿的睡眠模式会影响父母的睡眠及其幸福感。婴儿的睡眠问题会因其对父母生活的影响而引发父母的负面情绪。然而，关于婴儿夜间睡眠模式与父母对孩子总体负面态度之间的关联，我们所知甚少。本研究的目的就是探究这种关联。
采用纵向设计，我们对9至18个月大的婴儿及其父母进行了跟踪研究。总共有392个家庭参与了该研究。通过问卷调查对父母的负面态度和孩子的睡眠模式进行评估。
在研究的9个月期间，父母的负面态度和孩子的睡眠问题呈现出中度的连续性。9个月大时孩子的睡眠问题预示着18个月大时母亲（而非父亲）负面态度的增加。父母的负面态度与婴儿的睡眠问题并无关联。
本研究结果表明，在婴儿期，孩子的倾向（在本研究中即睡眠）就可能引发母亲的负面情绪，并凸显了婴儿在复杂的亲子关系中的作用。
