The longitudinal associations between temperament and sleep during the first year of life

Isabel Morales-Muñoz, Saara Nolvi, Minna Virta, Hasse Karlsson, E Juulia Paavonen, Linnea Karlsson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Temperament and sleep in infants are related but also distinct concepts. The longitudinal effects of temperament on sleep in infancy remain unclear, although this information is potentially important for the prevention and treatment of early sleep problems. We examined how various temperament features influence sleep development during the first year of life in a large birth cohort. This study comprised mother-infant dyads with complete longitudinal data on sleep, temperament and sociodemographic measurements at six and 12 months (N = 1436). We observed that higher infant Negative Affectivity was related to several sleep problems, and that many subscales of Negative Affectivity and Orienting/Regulation predicted worse sleep and deterioration in sleep problems from six to 12 months. Few associations between Surgency and sleep were found. Our findings highlight especially Negative Affectivity as a risk factor for persistent and increasing sleep problems, and also the specific importance of the fine-grained aspects of temperament in predicting infant sleep development.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)101485
JournalInfant Behavior and Development
Volume61
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2020

Bibliographical note

Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Keywords

  • Adult
  • Child Development/physiology
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Male
  • Self-Control/psychology
  • Sleep/physiology
  • Sleep Wake Disorders/diagnosis
  • Temperament/physiology

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