The aim of the research was to test hypotheses concerning the
associations between maternal depressive symptoms and child sleep using
longitudinal data to examine possible predictive pathways. Data from the
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early
Child Care with 1222 children studied from 1 to 36 months of age were
analyzed to examine: effects on trajectories over time, and phase-specific
effects over three defined age periods (6 to 15, 15 to 24, and 24 to 36
months). Child sleep was found to influence maternal depressive symptoms
only for the 15- to 24-month age period, where, contrary to expectation,
longer duration of child awakenings predicted decreased maternal
depressive symptoms. Maternal depressive symptoms were found to predict an
increased frequency of child awakenings across the 15- to 24-month age
period only. In contrast, maternal depressive symptoms were found to
significantly predict increased duration of child awakenings both for the
3-year trajectory and across the 15- to 24- and 24- to 36-month age
periods. Additional research is needed to clarify the mechanisms by which
maternal depressive symptoms predict increased duration of child
awakenings.This study was conducted by the
NICHD Early Child Care Research Network supported by NICHD through a
cooperative agreement that calls for scientific collaboration between the
grantees and the NICHD staff. This research was also supported by NIMH
Scientist Award for Clinicians MH01532, NIMH R01 MH065938, and National
Association for Research in Schizophrenia and Depression grants to the
first author (S.L.W.).