Lost Toy? Monsters Under the Bed? Contributions of Temperament and Family Factors to Early Internalizing Problems in Boys and Girls

This study was designed to examine the contribution of multiple risk factors to early internalizing problems and to investigate whether family and ecological context moderated the association between child temperament and internalizing outcomes. A sample of 1,202 mothers of 2- and 3-year-old children completed a survey of child social-emotional functioning, family environment, and violence exposure. Child temperament, maternal affective symptoms, and family expressiveness were associated with child anxiety and depression problems. Violence exposure was related only to child anxiety. When maternal affective symptoms were elevated, inhibited girls but not boys were rated as more anxious and youngsters with heightened negative emotionality were rated as more depressed. Family expressiveness moderated the association between inhibited temperament and anxiety symptoms

Associations of preschool reactive bed-sharing with sociodemographic factors, sleep disturbance, and psychopathology

Abstract Objective To advance understanding of early childhood bed-sharing and its clinical significance, we examined reactive bed-sharing rates, sociodemographic correlates, persistence, and concurrent and longitudinal associations with sleep disturbances and psychopathology. Methods Data from a representative cohort of 917 children (mean age 3.8 years) recruited from primary pediatric clinics in a Southeastern city for a preschool anxiety study were used. Sociodemographics and diagnostic classifications for sleep disturbances and psychopathology were obtained using the Preschool Age Psychiatric Assessment (PAPA), a structured diagnostic interview administered to caregivers. A subsample of 187 children was re-assessed approximately 24.7 months after the initial PAPA interview. Results Reactive bed-sharing was reported by 38.4% of parents, 22.9% nightly and 15.5% weekly, and declined with age. At follow-up, 48.9% of nightly bed-sharers and 88.7% of weekly bed-sharers were no longer bed-sharing. Sociodemographics associated with nightly bed-sharing were Black and (combined) American Indian, Alaska Native and Asian race and ethnicity, low income and parent education less than high school. Concurrently, bed-sharing nightly was associated with separation anxiety and sleep terrors; bed-sharing weekly was associated with sleep terrors and difficulty staying asleep. No longitudinal associations were found between reactive bed-sharing and sleep disturbances or psychopathology after controlling for sociodemographics, baseline status of the outcome and time between interviews. Conclusions Reactive bed-sharing is relatively common among preschoolers, varies significantly by sociodemographic factors, declines during the preschool years and is more persistent among nightly than weekly bed-sharers. Reactive bed-sharing may be an indicator of sleep disturbances and/or anxiety but there is no evidence that bed-sharing is an antecedent or consequence of sleep disturbances or psychopathology