Quadratic associations between harsh parenting and changes in children's nightly sleep.

Objectives

Harsh parenting has been associated with children's poor sleep. Existing studies with older children are predominantly cross-sectional and focus on linear associations between harsh parenting and sleep. Addressing these gaps, we investigated the longitudinal quadratic association between harsh parenting and change in children's sleep over 2 years.

Method

Children (N = 329, 46% female, 64% White/European American, and 36% Black/African American) and their parents from socioeconomically diverse backgrounds participated in 2 data collection waves spaced 2 years apart (ages 9 and 11, respectively). Parents reported on harsh parenting at age 9. Sleep was assessed at both waves utilizing 7 nights of actigraphy to derive measures of sleep duration (minutes) and sleep fragmentation (efficiency, activity), and children reported on their sleep-wake problems.

Results

Quadratic effects of harsh parenting emerged for sleep minutes (ß = .11, P = .05), sleep efficiency (ß = .17, P = .02), and sleep activity (ß = -.16, P = .04). Greater declines in sleep were observed as harsh parenting increased from low to moderate levels, whereas associations attenuated and plateaued at higher levels of harsh parenting.

Conclusions

Novel findings build on the literature by considering associations between sleep and a prevalent form of family risk and illustrate that relations between harsh parenting and sleep are quadratic.