Marital hostility and child sleep problems: direct and indirect associations via hostile parenting.
The current study examined two family process predictors of parent-reported child sleep problems at 4.5 years in an adoption sample: marital hostility and hostile parenting. Participants were 361 linked triads of birth parents, adoptive parents, and adopted children. We examined direct and indirect pathways from marital hostility to child sleep problems via hostile parenting. Mothers' marital hostility at 9 months was associated with child sleep problems at 4.5 years. Fathers' marital hostility at 9 months evidenced an indirect effect on child sleep problems at 4.5 years via fathers' hostile parenting at 27 months. Findings were significant even after controlling for genetic influences on child sleep (i.e., birth parent internalizing disorders). The findings suggest targets for prevention and intervention programs that are potentially modifiable (e.g., hostile parenting, marital hostility), and inform theory by demonstrating that relations among marital hostility, hostile parenting, and child sleep problems are significant after accounting for genetic influences.
Oregon Social Learning Center, 10 Shelton McMurphey Boulevard, Eugene, OR 97401, USA. kimberlyr@oslc.org
Kimberly A
KA
Rhoades
Leslie D
LD
Leve
Gordon T
GT
Harold
Anne M
AM
Mannering
Jenae M
JM
Neiderhiser
Daniel S
DS
Shaw
Misaki N
MN
Natsuaki
David
D
Reiss
D000300:Adoption / Q000523:psychology; D000328:Adult; D002675:Child, Preschool; D054541:Family Conflict / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006791:Hostility; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires