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Parental postpartum affective disorders as a risk factor for infant bedtime resistance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2021

B. Ragni*
Affiliation:
Human Studies, LUMSA University, Rome, Italy
S. De Stasio
Affiliation:
Human Studies, LUMSA University, Rome, Italy
T. Grimaldi Capitello
Affiliation:
Clinical Psychology, Bambino Gesù Children Hospital, Rome, Italy
R. Giampaolo
Affiliation:
Department Of Pediatrics, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, Rome, Italy
S. Gentile
Affiliation:
Human Studies, LUMSA University, Rome, Italy
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

Infant intrinsic factors, parental mental health, and parenting functioning could influence infant sleep development (Camerota et al., 2019). The current study was designed to advance understanding of parental mental health in influencing bedtime resistance in infants aging 8-12 months.

Objectives

The main aim of the present study was to examine the role of parental postpartum affective disorders, infants’ temperament and paternal involvement at bedtime in predicting infants’ bedtime resistance (e.g. fussing, crying or protesting).

Methods

60 Italian families of infants (34 boys and 26 girls) aging from 8 to 12months (M =10.73, SD = 2.54) participated in this study. Parents completed Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire (Sadeh et al., 2009), Perinatal Assessment of Paternal and Maternal Affectivity (Baldoni et al., 2018), QUIT for infants’ temperament (Axia, 2002) and an ad-hoc questionnaire for fathers’ involvement. Two multiple linear regressions (MR), one for fathers and one for mothers, and relative weight analyses (RWA) were conducted.

Results

Infants’ involvement in constant bedtime routines (reported by fathers: β = −.35, p < .05; mothers: β = −.31, p < .05) and paternal involvement at bedtime (fathers: β = −.45, p < .01; mothers: β = −.27, p < .05) represented protective factors for infants’ bedtime difficulties. Paternal affective disorders, accounted for 17.2% of the explained variance for mothers’ and 12.5% for fathers’ reports of infant bedtime difficulties, more than did maternal postpartum affective disorders.

Conclusions

Findings support that parental mental health can interfere with infants’ bedtime resistance.

Type
Abstract
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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