Parenting Practices, Bedtime Routines, and Consistency: Associations with Pediatric Sleep Problems

Abstract

Objectives: Investigate the direct and moderating effects of daytime parenting practices on the relationship between bedtime routines and pediatric sleep problems.

Methods: A community sample of 407 parents with children 2-10 years old completed measures of parenting practices (i.e., laxness and over-reactivity) and bedtime routines (i.e., consistency and reactivity to changes in routines). Sleep problems (i.e., severity and signaled night waking) were assessed by a parent-report questionnaire and sleep diaries.

Results: Higher parenting laxness (β = .13) and less bedtime routine consistency (β = -.34) significantly predicted sleep problem severity. Laxness moderated the relationship between bedtime reactivity and sleep problem severity: when bedtime reactivity was high, higher parental laxness was associated with more severe sleep problems.

Conclusions: Daytime parenting practices are important to consider when children are reactive to changes in bedtime routines, as permissive or inconsistent daytime parenting practices were found to be associated with more severe sleep problems. Future research should examine the effects of parenting practices and bedtime routines on problematic signaled night waking in a clinical sample of children.

Keywords: parenting; preschool children; school-age children; sleep.