Associations Between Infant Nighttime Distress and Coparenting Across the First Year: The Role of Socioeconomic Risk

The present study explored infant nighttime distress as a predictor and outcome of coparenting during the first year of life, examining family socioeconomic risk (SER) as a moderator in these relations. Data were drawn from a study funded by the National Institutes of Health on infant sleep, development, and parenting across the first year of life (N = 167). At 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months, coparenting was assessed through trained coders’ observations of bedtime videos and mothers’ and fathers’ reports. Infant nighttime distress was assessed through trained coders’ observations of nighttime videos. Family SER was assessed through a combination of family income-to-needs ratio and mothers’ and fathers’ education. Multilevel modeling was used to conduct the analyses. Results showed that in families of high SER, infants displayed heightened distress during nighttime sleep when coparenting cooperation was lower and coparenting hostility was higher during bedtime interactions. Interestingly, when parents reported higher coparenting quality than usual, it was longitudinally linked to more infant nighttime distress. In examining infant nighttime distress as a predictor of coparenting, increased distress was linked to decreased coparenting cooperation in families of high SER. Contrarily, in families of low SER, increased distress was linked to increased cooperation and decreased hostility. Promoting strategies to regulate infant sleep consistently throughout the first year of life may help improve family well-being, which in turn, may ultimately promote healthy sleep-in infants, particularly for families of high SER.