Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
Sleep. 2022 Jul 11;45(7). doi: 10.1093/sleep/zsac090.
This study explored the links between mothers' objective and subjective sleep and their caregiving feelings toward their infant (i.e. patience for the infant, desire to be with the infant, and anger toward the infant), using a diary study design. We were particularly interested in examining whether nights of lower sleep quality within individual mothers predict more negative maternal caregiving feelings the following day.
The sample included 151 women, who were recruited during pregnancy. Data were collected at 4 and 8 months after delivery. Maternal sleep was monitored at home for seven nights using actigraphy and sleep diaries. Mothers rated their caregiving feelings each evening.
Multilevel modeling (controlling for depressive symptoms, feeding method, and background variables) revealed that actigraphic and subjective sleep variables were associated with maternal caregiving feeling, both at the between- and within-person levels. For example, lower sleep percent predicted reduced levels of maternal patience for the infant at 4 and 8 months (between-person effect). Moreover, when a mother had a lower sleep percent on a given night (compared to her average), she reported lower levels of patience for her infant the following day (within-person prospective effect).
The findings demonstrate, for the first time, that maternal nightly variations in objective and subjective sleep quality predict daily changes in maternal feelings toward her infant at two different assessment points. Improving maternal sleep quality might be an important target for future interventions which may help mothers to feel more positively toward their infants.
本研究采用日记研究设计，探讨了母亲客观和主观睡眠与她们对婴儿的照顾感受（即对婴儿的耐心、陪伴婴儿的愿望和对婴儿的愤怒）之间的联系。我们特别感兴趣的是，检验个体母亲睡眠质量较差的夜晚是否预示着第二天她们对婴儿的照顾感受更消极。
该样本包括 151 名在孕期招募的女性。在产后 4 个月和 8 个月收集数据。使用活动记录仪和睡眠日记在家中监测母亲的睡眠情况，共 7 晚。母亲每天晚上都会对自己的照顾感受进行评分。
多层次模型（控制抑郁症状、喂养方式和背景变量）显示，活动记录仪和主观睡眠变量与母亲的照顾感受有关，无论是在个体间还是个体内水平上。例如，睡眠百分比较低预示着在产后 4 个月和 8 个月时母亲对婴儿的耐心程度降低（个体间效应）。此外，当母亲在某一晚的睡眠百分比（与她的平均睡眠百分比相比）较低时，她会报告第二天对婴儿的耐心程度较低（个体内前瞻性效应）。
这些发现首次表明，母亲夜间客观和主观睡眠质量的变化可以预测在两个不同评估点上母亲对婴儿的感受的日常变化。改善母亲的睡眠质量可能是未来干预的一个重要目标，这可能有助于母亲对婴儿产生更积极的感受。
