Paternal involvement and child sleep

Abstract

While maternal influences on young children’s sleep are increasingly documented, the study of paternal contributions to this important sphere of child functioning is only just beginning. In addition, much of this emerging research has focused on infancy only or has relied on parental reports of child sleep. The current study aimed to examine the associations between paternal involvement and child sleep during toddlerhood, a period that witnesses both increased paternal involvement in child care and marked developments in child sleep. Fathers ( N = 85) reported on their involvement when their toddlers were aged 2 years, and sleep was assessed objectively with actigraphy at age 3. Results indicated that above and beyond several key covariates, fathers who reported engaging more frequently in emotional support with their 2-year-old child, and those who reported evoking the child more often, had children who slept longer at night 1 year later. These results are among the first to suggest potential paternal influences on children’s sleep after the infancy period. They raise the possibility that interventions seeking to enhance paternal involvement may carry benefits for toddlers’ sleep and consequently, for aspects of cognition, behavior, and emotion that depend on adequate sleep regulation.