Ryan J. Kelly

Concurrent and Longitudinal Relations between Children's Sleep and Cognitive Functioning: The Moderating Role of Parent Education.

Relations between childrens sleep and cognitive functioning were examined over 2 years, and race and socioeconomic status were assessed as moderators of effects. Third-grade African American and European American children (N = 166; M = 8.72 years) participated at Time 1 and again 2 years later (N = 132). At both Time 1 and Time 2, sleep was examined via self-report and actigraphy. Children were administered selected tests from the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities, and Stanford Achievement Test scores were obtained from schools. Childrens sleep was related to intellectual ability and academic achievement. Results build substantially on an emerging literature supportive of the importance of sleep in children.

Children’s Sleep and Adjustment Over Time: The Role of Socioeconomic Context

Relations were examined between childrens sleep and their externalizing and internalizing symptoms. Longitudinal relations were examined when children were in 3rd (T1) and 5th (T2) grades, and cross-sectional relations were assessed at T2. Participants included 176 children at T1 (M = 8.68 years) and 141 children at T2 (M = 10.70 years). Sleep was examined via subjective reports and actigraphy. Children reported on anxiety, self-esteem, and depression symptoms, and parents reported on childrens externalizing and internalizing symptoms. Cross-sectionally and longitudinally, sleep problems were associated with worse adjustment outcomes; African American children or those from lower socioeconomic status homes were at particular risk. Findings highlight the importance of adequate sleep for childrens optimal development, especially in the context of ecological risk.

Marital conflict and children's sleep: reciprocal relations and socioeconomic effects.

We examined reciprocal relations between parental marital conflict and childrens sleep disruptions over two years. The roles of ethnicity (African American and European American) and socioeconomic status were tested as moderators of the examined relations. A community sample of 176 school-age children (M age = 8.68 at T1) and their parents participated at T1 and T2 with a 2-year interval between waves. Mothers, fathers, and children reported on parental marital conflict, and childrens sleep was measured via actigraphy and self-reports. Latent variable modeling indicated that T1 marital conflict predicted increases in childrens sleep disruptions longitudinally; results were more pronounced for African American children and those from lower SES homes. Further, childrens sleep disruptions at T1 predicted increases in marital conflict over time. Results demonstrate the importance of reciprocal relations between a prevalent familial stressor and a fundamental facet of childrens health, especially when considering the sociocultural milieu.

Reciprocal Relations between Children's Sleep and Their Adjustment over Time.

Child sleep and adjustment research with community samples is on the rise with a recognized need of explicating this association. We examined reciprocal relations between childrens sleep and their internalizing and externalizing symptoms using 3 waves of data spanning 5 years. Participants included 176 children at Time 1 (M = 8.68 years; 69% European American, 31% African American), 141 children at Time 2 (M = 10.70 years), and 113 children at Time 3 (M = 13.60 years). Children were from a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds. Sleep was measured subjectively via self-reports and objectively via actigraphy and adjustment was assessed with parent and child reports. Cross-lagged panel models indicated that reduced sleep duration and worse sleep quality predicted greater depression, anxiety, and externalizing symptoms over time. To a lesser extent but supportive of reciprocal relations, adjustment predicted changes in sleep. Findings illustrate the reciprocal nature of relations between sleep and adjustment difficulties in otherwise typically developing youth.

Maternal Psychological Control and Child Internalizing Symptoms: Vulnerability and Protective Factors across Bioregulatory and Ecological Domains.

BACKGROUND We examined ecological (family socioeconomic status (SES)) and bioregulatory (sleep duration, sleep efficiency) moderators of the link between maternal psychological control and childrens vulnerability to internalizing symptoms. METHOD A large socioeconomically diverse sample of third graders (N = 141) and their mothers participated. Sleep was examined via actigraphy for one week. Psychological control and internalizing symptoms (depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, pre-sleep arousal) were examined through childrens reports. RESULTS For children with poorer sleep, lower SES, or a combination of the two, maternal psychological control was positively related to depressive symptoms; this association was not evident for children with both better sleep and higher SES. Further, maternal psychological control, sleep efficiency, and SES interacted to predict both anxiety symptoms and pre-sleep arousal. Children were protected from the negative effects of psychological control when they were from higher SES families and had higher sleep efficiency; for all other groups of children, psychological control was associated with anxiety symptoms. A similar but less robust pattern of results was found for pre-sleep arousal. CONCLUSIONS Findings highlight the importance of childrens bioregulatory processes within the socioeconomic context for an enhanced understanding of childrens vulnerability to internalizing problems in the context of maternal psychological control.

Parental depressive symptoms and children’s sleep: the role of family conflict

BACKGROUND   We used a multi-method and multi-informant design to identify developmental pathways through which parental depressive symptoms contribute to childrens sleep problems. Environmental factors including adult inter-partner conflict and parent-child conflict were considered as process variables of this relation. METHODS   An ethnically and socioeconomically diverse sample of children (n = 268) participated (M age = 9.44 years, SD = 8.61 months). Children wore actigraphs for 7 consecutive nights and also reported on their sleep problems. RESULTS   Higher levels of maternal depressive symptoms were associated with childrens sleep/wake problems. Higher levels of paternal depressive symptoms were associated with shorter time in bed and fewer sleep minutes. Inter-partner conflict and parent-child conflict were mechanisms of effects in the associations between maternal depressive symptoms and childrens actigraphy-based and self-reported sleep problems. CONCLUSIONS   Findings build on this scant literature and highlight the importance of identifying pathways of risk and familial and environmental influences on childrens sleep problems.

Longitudinal relations between marital aggression and children's sleep: The role of emotional insecurity.

To gain a better understanding of relations between marital aggression and childrens sleep problems, we examined childrens emotional insecurity as a process variable and a moderator of effects using 3 waves of data spanning 5 years. Participants were 176 children at Time 1 (T1; M age = 8.68 years), 141 children at Time 2 (T2; M age = 10.70 years), and 113 children at Time 3 (T3; M age = 13.60 years) and their parents. Parents reported on marital aggression, children reported on their emotional insecurity about the parental marital relationship, and childrens sleep was measured via self-reports and actigraphy. After controlling for autoregressive effects, marital aggression predicted increases in emotional insecurity 2 years later (T2), which in turn predicted an increase in sleep problems 3 years later (T3). Moderation analyses indicated that a higher level of emotional insecurity was a vulnerability factor for sleep problems in the context of greater marital aggression. Findings add to this emerging literature and illustrate the importance of considering sleep in the family context.

Sleeping with one eye open: marital abuse as an antecedent of poor sleep.

In a diverse community sample of 241 married couples, we examined received psychological abuse (PA) as a longitudinal predictor of mens and womens sleep. Participants reported on marital functioning and mental health during three assessments (T1, T2, T3) and sleep problems during two assessments (T2, T3), with 1-year lags between waves. Growth curve analyses revealed that for both spouses, higher initial levels of PA and increases in PA over time predicted greater sleep disturbances at T3. For husbands and wives, anxiety and depression mediated some of the associations between PA and sleep problems. For wives, moderation effects highlighted the importance of violence, anxiety, and depression in exacerbating sleep problems associated with PA. Results build on and contribute significantly to the scant literature implicating the importance of the marital relationship for sleep and suggest that simultaneous consideration of intrapersonal and interpersonal variables is critical when explicating sleep disruptions.

Quick to Berate, Slow to Sleep: Interpartner Psychological Conflict, Mental Health, and Sleep

OBJECTIVE Relations between interpartner psychological conflict (IPC) and the sleep of men and women were examined, and depression and anxiety symptoms were assessed as intervening variables of these associations. METHOD Participants were 135 cohabiting or married couples. The mean age was 36.50 (SD = 5.93) for women and 39.37 (SD = 7.33) for men. Most women (76%) and men (78%) were European American (EA) and the rest were predominantly African American (AA); there was a wide socioeconomic representation. Men and women reported on IPC used by their partner against them. Sleep was examined objectively with actigraphs, and multiple sleep quantity and quality measures were derived. RESULTS Dyadic path analysis in which both actor and partner effects were assessed was conducted. For women, greater IPC by the partner was related to elevated levels of anxiety, which in turn was associated with shorter sleep duration and worse sleep efficiency; anxiety was an intervening variable. For men, IPC by the partner was related to greater symptoms of anxiety and depression; the latter was an intervening variable linking IPC with sleep quality (lower efficiency, longer latency). Some partner effects were observed and indicate that for both men and women, ones perpetration of IPC is related to increased anxiety in the partner, which in turn is related to longer sleep latency for the actor. CONCLUSION Results build on this scant literature, and using objective well-validated measures of sleep highlight the importance of relationship processes and mental health for the sleep of men and women.

Children's sleep and adjustment: a residualized change analysis.

We investigated longitudinal relations between childrens sleep and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and anger/aggression. We expected that initial sleep problems and increases in these problems over time would be associated with worse adjustment outcomes. The study had 3 waves with 1-year lags. At Time 1 [T1], 128 girls and 123 boys (M age = 8.23 years, SD = 0.73) participated; M ages at Time 2 (T2) and Time 3 (T3) = 9.31 years (SD = 0.79) and 10.28 (SD = 0.99). The sample was diverse in relation to economic adversity and ethnicity (66% European and 34% African American). Higher initial levels and increases in sleep/wake problems or sleepiness over 3 years predicted higher levels of depression and anxiety symptoms at T3, controlling for T1 levels. These associations were more pronounced for girls, African American children, and children from lower socioeconomic status homes. Findings build on a small body of literature addressing links between sleep and adjustment longitudinally and highlight the importance of adequate sleep for childrens optimal development, especially within the broader sociocultural milieu..