title: Assisted conception, maternal personality and parenting: Associations with toddler sleep behaviour.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore the role of maternal personality (hardiness), sleep-related cognitions and bedtime involvement in child sleep behaviour during the second post-natal year in a sample of spontaneous and assisted conception first-time mothers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Mothers (n = 134 (spontaneous (n = 81); assisted (n = 53) conception)) reported on a resilience measure (hardiness) during pregnancy and child sleep at 7 and 19 months post-partum. At 19 months post-partum, mothers also reported on their cognitions and involvement around their child's bedtime, and half the sample used Actigraph monitors (Acitiwatch-16, Mini Mitter Co. Inc, Bend, OR, USA) to validate maternal report of child sleep.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No significant differences were found between spontaneous and assisted conception mothers on any of the study variables; therefore, assisted and spontaneous samples were combined. Structural equation modelling confirmed that lower pre-birth maternal hardiness was associated with more problematic sleep-related cognitions (β = 0.23, P < 0.01) and involvement at bedtime (β = 0.29, P < 0.01) and poorer child sleep outcomes (β = -0.33, P < 0.001) during toddlerhood, even after considering concurrent maternal mood and child temperament.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Pre-birth maternal hardiness rather than mode of conception contributes to parenting cognitions and behaviour around child sleep and, ultimately, toddlers' sleep outcomes. Findings suggest that targeting negative maternal perceptions of control and efficacy through clinical interventions could benefit toddlers' sleep.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Nikki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: McMahon
authors.forename: Frances
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gibson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations / Q000523:psychology*; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D010551:Personality; D011247:Pregnancy; D027724:Reproductive Techniques, Assisted / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012890:Sleep
keywords: assisted reproductive technology; cognitions; early childhood; hardiness; parenting; sleep