title: Sleep and attachment in early childhood: a series of meta-analyses.
abstract: Empirical findings regarding the association between child attachment and sleep have been inconsistent. The objectives of this series of meta-analyses were to assess the size of the association between child sleep and attachment and to examine whether study methodology (attachment measure, sleep measure) and age moderate this association. Sixteen studies (2783 children aged from 6 to 38 months) were included. Significant associations were found between attachment security and sleep efficiency (r = .18) and attachment resistance and sleep problems (r = .18). There were significant moderator effects of sleep measure and age of the child, with the size of the association between sleep and attachment security increasing with age (R2analog = .67). Inconsistent findings are likely due to inter-study variabilities in methodology and to a developmental effect on the sleep-attachment association.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Université de Sherbrooke , Longueuil , Canada.|b Research Center of the Sainte-Justine University Hospital , Montreal , Canada.
authors.forename: Valérie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Simard
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Université de Sherbrooke , Longueuil , Canada.
authors.forename: Valérie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Chevalier
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Université de Sherbrooke , Longueuil , Canada.
authors.forename: Marie-Michèle
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Bédard
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009769:Object Attachment; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Sleep; attachment; child; infant; meta-analysis