Sleep problems in preschoolers and maternal depressive symptoms: An evaluation of mother- and child-driven effects.

Abstract

Child sleep problems are associated with maternal depressive symptoms. It is unclear to what extent the association is due to direct effects or common risk factors for mother and child. Direct effects could represent child-driven processes, where child sleep problems influence maternal depressive symptoms, or mother-driven processes, where maternal depressive symptoms influence child sleep problems. Common factors could be shared genetic and familial environmental risk. Child- and mother-driven processes are direct in the sense that they are not due to common factors. However, such processes could be mediated by a range of unmeasured variables. By using an autoregressive fixed-effects model on a community-based longitudinal sample comprising 956 families assessed when children were 1.5, 2.5, and 4 years of age, we estimated the direction of effect between, and common causes of, child sleep problems and maternal depressive symptoms. We were able to explain the association between child sleep problems and maternal depressive symptoms by both child-driven and mother-driven processes. The effect of child-driven processes was significantly larger than the effect of mother-driven processes. The clinical implication of the study is that treatment of child sleep problems will have considerable effect on maternal depressive symptoms. Furthermore, our model supports that treatment of current child sleep problems will have a direct effect on future sleep problems and also an indirect effect on future maternal depressive symptoms. We recommend that health professionals assess child sleep problems in mothers at risk for depression. (PsycINFO Database Record

Sleep disorders in a sample of Lebanese children: the role of parental mental health and child nutrition and activity

“…Our results were similar to those in a previous study that showed that maternal depression can have a direct influence on the infant's sleep pattern especially in the post-partum period [54]. In addition, a study assessing sleep disorder in children and maternal depression showed that maternal depression can be influenced by child sleeping problem [55]. In fact, children were shown to be highly aware of their mother's emotions; this can lead to excess worrying at bedtime and can predispose to disturbance in sleeping patterns [12].…”

“…Maternal depression has been extensively studied, and is described as a public health concern, given the high prevalence of depression among mothers especially during the postpartum period [53], and the negative impact maternal depression can leave on the emotional and cognitive development of the child [54,55]. We showed in our study, that maternal depression was associated with sleep disturbance in children.…”

Mother's prenatal and postpartum depression symptoms and infant's sleep problems at 6 months

“…Also, this study adds to previous research on the adverse effects of mother's prenatal depression on infant development (e.g., Figueiredo, Pinto, Pacheco, & Field, 2017; Gentile, 2017; Stein et al., 2014), by reporting the adverse effects on infant's sleep problems. In their turn, infant's sleep problems may contribute to the emergence of mother's postpartum anxiety and depression symptoms (Ystrom, Nilsen, Hysing, Sivertsen, & Ystrom, 2017), which may help to explain the association between mother's prenatal and postpartum depression.…”

Using the game therapy method in the process of correction of intra-family communication of pre-schoolers

“…В нутрисемейное общение -основное условие развития ребенка, важнейший фактор формирования личности, один из главных видов деятельности человека (A.G. Asmolov [1], N.T. Malberg [22], H. Ystrom etc [36]). процесс воспитания и развития ребёнка.…”