Is attachment security related to sleep-wake regulation? Mother's reports and objective sleep recordings

Anat Scher; Ronit Asher

doi:10.1016/j.infbeh.2003.12.002

Is attachment security related to sleep-wake regulation? Mother's reports and objective sleep recordings

Anat Scher, Ronit Asher

Department of Counseling and Human Development

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

This study set out to examine the links between infants' sleep-wake regulation and attachment security. Subjects were 57 healthy, Israeli infant-mother dyads. Mother-child relationship was assessed at 12 months with the Attachment Q-Set (AQS) (Waters & Deane, 1985). Sleep was measured, objectively, with an activity monitor, as well as through maternal reports. The objective sleep records were not associated with either the security or the dependency score. In contrast, mothers' descriptions of the child's sleep problems were associated with the child's dependency placement. This result is in line with the premise that dependency, more than security, modulates the child's transitions to sleep. Since temperament was implicated in both the dependency placement and in the child's sleep pattern, a further disentangling of sleep-attachment-temperament is in order. Future studies of sleep regulation and attachment should address these constructs longitudinally, and include observational measures of attachment and of nighttime parenting, in different child-rearing contexts.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	288-302
Number of pages	15
Journal	Infant Behavior and Development
Volume	27
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2003.12.002
State	Published - Oct 2004

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Support for the study was provided by a grant from the Israel Foundation Trustees (1998–2000). Parts of the data reported herein served for the MA thesis of the second author submitted to the University of Haifa. A version of this article was presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, April 2003, Tampa, Florida. The contribution of Eleanor Schneider, Anat Horowitz, Keren Gershgoren, Orit Raskin, and Annya Hillel in data collection, and of Sandra Zuckerman in data management are gratefully acknowledged. A number of colleagues provided valuable input: Avi Sadeh (actigraphs), David Oppenheim (AQS), and Marie Hayes (comments on an earlier draft). Special thanks are also due to the families who participated in the study.

Keywords

Attachment security
Dependency
Infants
Night waking
Sleep
Temperament

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Developmental and Educational Psychology

Access to Document

10.1016/j.infbeh.2003.12.002

Cite this

@article{1ba99efba6bc4ade823ab17dff73183b,

title = "Is attachment security related to sleep-wake regulation? Mother's reports and objective sleep recordings",

abstract = "This study set out to examine the links between infants' sleep-wake regulation and attachment security. Subjects were 57 healthy, Israeli infant-mother dyads. Mother-child relationship was assessed at 12 months with the Attachment Q-Set (AQS) (Waters & Deane, 1985). Sleep was measured, objectively, with an activity monitor, as well as through maternal reports. The objective sleep records were not associated with either the security or the dependency score. In contrast, mothers' descriptions of the child's sleep problems were associated with the child's dependency placement. This result is in line with the premise that dependency, more than security, modulates the child's transitions to sleep. Since temperament was implicated in both the dependency placement and in the child's sleep pattern, a further disentangling of sleep-attachment-temperament is in order. Future studies of sleep regulation and attachment should address these constructs longitudinally, and include observational measures of attachment and of nighttime parenting, in different child-rearing contexts.",

keywords = "Attachment security, Dependency, Infants, Night waking, Sleep, Temperament",

author = "Anat Scher and Ronit Asher",

note = "Funding Information: Support for the study was provided by a grant from the Israel Foundation Trustees (1998–2000). Parts of the data reported herein served for the MA thesis of the second author submitted to the University of Haifa. A version of this article was presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, April 2003, Tampa, Florida. The contribution of Eleanor Schneider, Anat Horowitz, Keren Gershgoren, Orit Raskin, and Annya Hillel in data collection, and of Sandra Zuckerman in data management are gratefully acknowledged. A number of colleagues provided valuable input: Avi Sadeh (actigraphs), David Oppenheim (AQS), and Marie Hayes (comments on an earlier draft). Special thanks are also due to the families who participated in the study. ",

year = "2004",

month = oct,

doi = "10.1016/j.infbeh.2003.12.002",

language = "English",

volume = "27",

pages = "288--302",

journal = "Infant Behavior and Development",

issn = "0163-6383",

publisher = "Elsevier",

number = "3",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Is attachment security related to sleep-wake regulation? Mother's reports and objective sleep recordings

AU - Scher, Anat

AU - Asher, Ronit

N1 - Funding Information: Support for the study was provided by a grant from the Israel Foundation Trustees (1998–2000). Parts of the data reported herein served for the MA thesis of the second author submitted to the University of Haifa. A version of this article was presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, April 2003, Tampa, Florida. The contribution of Eleanor Schneider, Anat Horowitz, Keren Gershgoren, Orit Raskin, and Annya Hillel in data collection, and of Sandra Zuckerman in data management are gratefully acknowledged. A number of colleagues provided valuable input: Avi Sadeh (actigraphs), David Oppenheim (AQS), and Marie Hayes (comments on an earlier draft). Special thanks are also due to the families who participated in the study.

PY - 2004/10

Y1 - 2004/10

N2 - This study set out to examine the links between infants' sleep-wake regulation and attachment security. Subjects were 57 healthy, Israeli infant-mother dyads. Mother-child relationship was assessed at 12 months with the Attachment Q-Set (AQS) (Waters & Deane, 1985). Sleep was measured, objectively, with an activity monitor, as well as through maternal reports. The objective sleep records were not associated with either the security or the dependency score. In contrast, mothers' descriptions of the child's sleep problems were associated with the child's dependency placement. This result is in line with the premise that dependency, more than security, modulates the child's transitions to sleep. Since temperament was implicated in both the dependency placement and in the child's sleep pattern, a further disentangling of sleep-attachment-temperament is in order. Future studies of sleep regulation and attachment should address these constructs longitudinally, and include observational measures of attachment and of nighttime parenting, in different child-rearing contexts.

AB - This study set out to examine the links between infants' sleep-wake regulation and attachment security. Subjects were 57 healthy, Israeli infant-mother dyads. Mother-child relationship was assessed at 12 months with the Attachment Q-Set (AQS) (Waters & Deane, 1985). Sleep was measured, objectively, with an activity monitor, as well as through maternal reports. The objective sleep records were not associated with either the security or the dependency score. In contrast, mothers' descriptions of the child's sleep problems were associated with the child's dependency placement. This result is in line with the premise that dependency, more than security, modulates the child's transitions to sleep. Since temperament was implicated in both the dependency placement and in the child's sleep pattern, a further disentangling of sleep-attachment-temperament is in order. Future studies of sleep regulation and attachment should address these constructs longitudinally, and include observational measures of attachment and of nighttime parenting, in different child-rearing contexts.

KW - Attachment security

KW - Dependency

KW - Infants

KW - Night waking

KW - Sleep

KW - Temperament

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=4644263767&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.infbeh.2003.12.002

DO - 10.1016/j.infbeh.2003.12.002

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:4644263767

SN - 0163-6383

VL - 27

SP - 288

EP - 302

JO - Infant Behavior and Development

JF - Infant Behavior and Development

IS - 3

ER -

Is attachment security related to sleep-wake regulation? Mother's reports and objective sleep recordings

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this