An Interpersonal and Meta-analytic Approach to Parenting Behaviors and Adolescent Sleep

Abstract

Two dimensions of parenting behaviors-affiliative/non-affiliative and autonomy/control- are each consistently linked to adolescent sleep health. Parenting behaviors that facilitate good sleep likely involve affiliation (i.e., warmth) and some degree of parental guidance and appropriate autonomy-granting to the adolescent; however, these domains are often confounded in parenting assessments, which limits understanding and specificity of recommendations for providers and families on how to optimize adolescents' sleep. Thus, we categorized existing literature according to an interpersonal developmental framework to identify parenting behaviors most strongly linked to adolescent sleep health. Studies (k = 42) included 43,293 participants (M age = 14.84, SD age = 2.04). Structural analysis of social behavior (SASB) interpersonal coding was applied to define and operationalize parenting behaviors (independent variables). Dependent variables included measures of sleep health (i.e., sleep regularity, duration, efficiency, latency, timing, quality, alertness/sleepiness) and sleep disturbance. The final effect size of interest for analysis was a correlation coefficient r. Optimal parenting behaviors (e.g., warm, autonomy-granting, moderately controlling) were associated with longer sleep duration, earlier bedtime, less daytime sleepiness, shorter sleep latency, and fewer sleep disturbances. Suboptimal parenting behaviors (e.g., hostile, controlling) were associated with more daytime sleepiness and more sleep disturbances. This is one of the first studies to specify that, when paired with affiliation, both moderate control and moderate autonomy-granting were associated with better adolescent sleep health. Findings indicate that the importance of parental interpersonal warmth extends into adolescence and further suggest that the interpersonal security necessary for good sleep includes appropriate use of control and autonomy-granting behaviors.

Keywords: Adolescent; Autonomy; Interpersonal theory; Parent; Sleep; Warmth.

Fig. 1

The Structural Analysis of Social Behavior (SASB) Quadrant Model of Social Behavior Adapted from Benjamin, L.S. (1979). Structural analysis of differentiation failure. Psychiatry: Journal for the Study of Interpersonal Processes, 42, p. 5. Copyright Taylor & Francis. Used with permission. Terms to define the quadrants were specifically adapted for use in this study to mirror language typically used to define parenting behaviors as they relate to adolescent sleep

Fig. 2

Flow chart outlining inclusion/exclusion of studies from initial database search

Fig. 3

Interpersonal circumplex with example items representing SASB codes, extracted from questionnaires included in analyses

Fig. 4

The association between optimal parenting behaviors and adolescent sleep duration

Fig. 5

The association between optimal parenting behaviors and adolescent bedtime

Fig. 6

The association between optimal parenting behaviors and adolescent daytime sleepiness

Fig. 7

The association between optimal parenting behaviors and adolescent sleep latency

Fig. 8

The association between optimal parenting behaviors and adolescent sleep disturbance

Fig. 9

The association between suboptimal parenting behaviors and adolescent sleepiness

Fig. 10

The association between suboptimal parenting behaviors and adolescent sleep disturbance

Fig. 11

Graphical representation of quadrant analysis effect sizes mapped onto the SASB Surface Note. Numbers along x and y axes are correlation coefficients. Points beyond the inner circle represent statistical significance at the p < .10 level; all points within the circle are non-significant; distance from the center point corresponds to correlation strength. Friendly Autonomy: Sleep Efficiency (r = 0.05)^†, Bedtime (r = −0.07)**, Sleep Duration (r = 0.14)*, Sleep Latency (r = −0.14)***, Daytime Sleepiness (r = −0.23)**, Sleep Quality (r = 0.24)***. Friendly Control: Sleep Efficiency (r = 0.04), Sleep Quality (r = 0.07), Sleep Duration (r = 0.07)*, Sleep Latency (r = −0.10)^†, Sleep Disturbance (r = −0.12)***, Bedtime (r = −0.34)**, Daytime Sleepiness (r = −0.65)*. Hostile Control: Sleep Duration (r = −0.04).^†, Sleep Quality (r = 0.09), Sleep Latency (r = 0.14)*, Sleep Disturbance (r = 0.25)***, Daytime Sleepiness (r = 0.32)***, Sleep Efficiency (r = −0.06). Hostile Autonomy: Sleep Duration (r = 0.02). *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, †p < 0.10